by Akseli Pitkänen Prior to the Test series at the Caribbean, England and WI had very different parts to play in the subcontinent. England finished on a high against a newly inexperienced SL side and WI had a fair bit of tough outcome, not unexpectedly. So on which scale would you have predicted what would happen? England preparing their Test team for the eternal Ashes and WI having a crack at it at their neighborhood. Let the wickets galore begin! And so did the wickets fall. Runs too were scored. Root lossed the toss in each face-off. Need to have a specialist tosser? I mean they have many wk:s so why not? Back to the cricket: The 1st Test was WI written all over it. Win toss, bat. With one specialist spinner in Rashid and Moeen not doing his workload enough well, it was certain that on a pitch at Bridgetown the longer the innings develops, the better chance of grinding out it becomes. You could say WI didn't finish the job in the 1st innings with the bat. Debutant opener John Campbell looked confident in his first Test innings, scoring a quick 44 in 53 balls, with 8 boundaries. Brathwaite, the more experienced campaigner, stuck around for 46.4 overs and even hit a 6, something we don't normally see from him. The score after that wicket, 126-2. It was clear that WI weren't going to mess around here and they weren't to do that much the entire series with bat or ball. The fortune went WI's way after Bravo fell for 2 in his comeback innings. Three names came and bossed the outfield. Neither of them went on to score a century but nevertheless made a vital impact on the rest of the match. It all started with Shai Hope, who hit boundaries, rotated the strike well, showing why he belongs in the team at number 3. He patiently carried on from where the openers had left off, reaching 57 off 148. Roston Chase batted beautifully. His cover drives were beautiful watch. He brought the energy and charisma to the innings. And then came Shimron Hetmyer. Sometimes it pays dividends trying to hit big and so it was the case here: two gorgeous maximums off two spinners around the 70th over mark. With tailenders as company, he hit as well as he could but the innings came to a close at 289. On England's behalf the spin attack didn't lead much anywhere. It was Anderson who was the pick of the bowlers, and Stokes accompanied him pretty well. Sam Curran, the left-armer, did not impress. He started his first spell with Anderson but only managed a miserable 0-54. Pace was the case too, not too unexpectedly. 34 overs to spinners yielded just one wicket and 67 odd overs got the remaining nine. What has to be said, is that this was just a beginning of England's problems, not only on field for the players but also for the management behind them. Well, it started pretty decently, but you know England. The collapse wasn't far away. 23-0 off 9 became 77 all out in overs: quicker than you can say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, for sure. Try that out! Back to the cricket.... so the fizz in the Windies camp must have been opened after a shocking display. What was even more shocking is that nobody scored more than 17 runs. Holder started the procession. The main architect however was Roach with a staggering performance of 11 overs, 7 maidens, 5 wickets and 17 runs. Stumps flying, catches taken, batsmen getting pinned in front. All of that saw England crumble. It was an appalling view for the England supporters. But WI deserved it because they were disciplined, united, ready to catch everything. What a way to bag a team for a way below par score. Take my advice WI and build the lead into an insurmountable position. And so they did. But not before it was 61-5 in reply. Test cricket, how you get so high! This time Moeen was spot on enforcing the batsmen to play outside off stump and make mistakes. Jennings, a rather specialist short leg, grabbed a couple catches worth mentioning. On a new morning on day 3, at 127/6, WI hadn't finished the match. Then came two knocks straight out of the record books. At first, it was Holder with the bat, who overcame a difficult situation, and dominated the bowlers with heavenly shots. The tall man stood, watched, and crushed the ball to pieces. Some hoicks were played, mostly along the ground though. In total, it was 8 maximums and 23 fours and no one, I mean no one could say Holder wasn't enjoying himself. He went to a century in 99 balls but that wasn't enough for him. Another 130 balls later he stood at 202 not out. More like 2 in 2 what was later to come to decide the series. He was jubilant, and so he should. It was the 3rd-highest score by a number-eight batsman in Test history. And I haven't even mentioned Dowrich yet! 116 off 224. You don't see a 295* partnership every day for the 7th wicket. Boundaries fell all around the park throughout that day. Be a proud West Indian if you are from the Caribbean, I must say! The target was a 'mere' 628 for England to chase. That man, Roston Chase was the one who put England in disarray with his career-best 8-60. He was all over England, and a happy guy as ever. Rory Burns scored a 50, too, but that was far from enough. It was WI who celebrated their win enthusiastically against a team who did not find the heat to beat. It was yet another sleepless night on its way for the visitors. The 381-run win was as convincing as you'd like. In a series like this, at no point did a team come out of the locker to hunt down the opposition after a bleak start. So, the 1st innings lead became ever crucial, in addition to just winning the toss. Joe Denly came in as a debutant for Keaton Jennings in the 2nd Test but that hardly changed the outcome. Kemar Roach started off form he left at Bridgetown 1st innings. He was right on the money and Burns was swallowed by the previous game's Man of the Match, Jason Holder. In a way that expressed the match at North Sound. The scorecard read 4-3-2-1-0 for the bowlers and England were bowled out yet again for a subpar total, this time, just 187. The significant contributors were Shannon Gabriel, who bowled with plenty of pace and bounce, and Roach persisting with his line and length. The funny moment was when Root got caught at slip off a ball that exploded off the pitch off a back-of-a length delivery from Joseph, the youngster. Sometimes cracks can do damage in the 16th over of a whole Test match. More theatrically, the catch was a 2 man show, 3rd slip dropping it for gully to take. That summed up England's misery. In reply, openers John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite were very patient, setting a platform for the top order. Campbell, who often failed to contribute his good starts into big scores, fell for 47. But in terms of importance, a big 1st innings lead was achieved, when almost all of the batsmen got starts and added priceless runs on the board. Not to mention, Darren Bravo put together a gritty knock. WI's only 50 of the innings came off 215 balls, the slowest West Indian Test fifty in terms of minutes at the crease. He was there for nearly six hours and that put WI in the driver's seat, leading by 119 runs. The match was far from decided at that point and WI had to fire them, which they did in quick succession. Roach and Holder, the main duo, both picked four wickets. Again, it was another English batting innings that went terribly, finishing at 132 all out. Not much was left for the English fans; well, at most, a golden pineapple. A 14-run chase was dealt with ease; no wickets and the series win celebrations began!
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