West Indies finished the second day of the first test at Lords in a strong position, with them being at 79/6 in their second innings, thus trailing by 171 runs.
England were led to a total of 371 in their first innings by contributions from Joe Root (68), Harry Brook (57) and Jamie Smith on his debut (81). James Anderson then tormented West Indies’ captain Kraigg Brathwaite for no run in their second innings.
England began the day on 189/3, and Brook continued his aggressive play, reaching his twelfth fifty in thirteen Tests before being caught off Joseph. Ben Stokes was bowled for four by Gudakesh Motie, and also Motie dismissed Root just before lunch.
Smith impressed in his debut Test match having formed a partnership of 52 runs with Chris Woakes who was caught at square leg off Seales after scoring twenty three. Smith continued to be aggressive smashing two sixes as well as eight fours prior to being stopped by Seales. A brilliant throw from Mikyle Louis ran out Shoaib Bashir. Anderson playing his last match did not face any ball but received warm ovations from the crowd.
England’s bowling attack which was spearheaded by Anderson kept up relentless pressure. He got a maiden over and then trapped Brathwaite lbw with an inswinger. Stokes pinned McKenzie lbw for a duck and left Louis holding him out behind. Kavem Hodge was cleaned up Gus Atkinson; Anderson got Alick Athanaze lbw for his seven hundredth wicket in tests while Atkinson removed Jason Holder with the very last ball of the day which went for four making him score twenty. Joshua Da Silva remained unbeaten on eight.
According to Jamie Smith, England is on top and this pleases him immensely: “We are almost where we want to be. We wanted a good start to the summer and this is exactly what we have done,” he said according to Reuters.
The situation was described as being very difficult by West Indies’ Jayden Seales: “We are under pressure, it’s definitely not an ideal position. It’s just a matter of learning from our mistakes, and putting this behind us,” he stated.
West Indies opener were made to struggle by England’s persistent bowlers. McKenzie, Louis and Hodge all departed cheaply leaving them in deep trouble. Athanaze and Holder however stood their ground producing a fighting partnership which was disrupted with the removal of Athanaze and Holder thus turning the game more towards England.
With such performance from the English side, there is going to be a huge turn around required if West Indies is going to avoid a heavy defeat.
