Joshua da Silva’s unbeaten A Test half-century in the Caribbean led to a lower-order West Indies revival on the second day of the third test.
The home side was able to move ahead of England on that day. Kyle Mayers, Alzarri Joseph, and Kemar Roach all made significant contributions to help the home side get back up from 95 for six to 232 for eight at the end of their first innings.
On the first day, Saqib Mahmood and Jack Leach shared a 90-run last-wicket stand to help the English fightback from 114 for nine.
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The West Indian version of tail-end resistance saw 137 runs added for the loss of two wickets.
If da Silva (54 not out) and Roach (25 not out) keep their ninth-wicket partnership going, they’ll be able to keep the home team in the lead by 28 runs with two wickets in hand. This is very different from the dull cricket that marked most of their drawn matches.
Woakes led the way with the ball. In the afternoon, he took three wickets to start a West Indies slide that looked like it would be over until da Silva and Mayers came on.
With Mayers, made 33 runs; with Joseph, made 49 runs; and Roach, the ninth-wicket pair, didn’t mind when the second new ball came out.
Da Silva’s half-century, which is his fourth in Test cricket, has taken more than three hours, during which he has played 152 balls and hit four fours.
“My home form hasn’t been very good, so it was especially nice to get runs in front of home fans.”
‘Belief in the lads’
“They even beat me this evening. I have complete faith in the guys in the lower order, and they even did better than I did. Because Jayden (Seales) can also bat, we want to keep it going as far as we can tomorrow. We want to have some runs to work with in the second innings.”
During the post-lunch period, Woakes used unusual bounce to get rid of Nkrumah Bonner, Jason Holder in four balls and then took out Jermaine Blackwood with a full-length delivery. Woakes was under pressure to show that he was worth playing Test cricket outside of England.
At 95 for six, da Silva came into the game. Mayers took the spotlight in their brief stand before Ben Stokes caught him, but the wicketkeeper-batsman showed the calm and maturity that has become a feature of his play since his Test debut in New Zealand at the end of 2020.
As an England player, Chris Woakes said, “We’re happy with how things went today because the wicket is starting to play better. We’re also happy with how things went.”
“Maybe at the start of the day, we should have bowled a little more full. Even though we might have given up a few boundaries. When we took our first break for a drink, it seemed like the roller in the morning had worn off. That was when we really got going.”
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West Indies began their reply to England’s small first-innings total in the morning, with a 50-run opening partnership. But in the second hour, England’s captain Kraigg Brathwaite was caught by Stokes, and the game changed.
That was then followed by the death of Shamarh Brooks, the new batsman. Saqib Mahmood took his place.
Craig Overton had given John Campbell a rough ride, but he fell just before the break. England was in a much better mood then.
Brathwaite looked like he was in the same mood as Campbell, who made most of the runs at the other end. In the last Test match in Barbados, Brathwaite was a virtual immovable object, facing more deliveries than ever before by a West Indies batter in Test cricket.
Then it took a delivery from Stokes that barely got off the ground to get rid of him. He was caught plumb leg before for 17 of 56 deliveries.
It all fell on Campbell, who found Overton his biggest obstacle. Overton eventually beat him to the punch, but Campbell didn’t give up.
The left-hander was hit on the helmet twice. Even though he continued his innings both times, he didn’t look like he would be able to get used to his opponent’s aggression. Finally, he hit another high ball down the leg-side for wicketkeeper Ben Foakes to take the catch.
