Five-star Bashir mesmerises West Indies to give England series
NOTTINGHAM: Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir took five wickets as England bowled out West Indies for 143 to secure a 241-run victory on the fourth day of the second Test here at Trent Bridge on Sunday and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
The touring side, chasing 385 to win, started well thanks to a solid opening partnership of 61 between captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis.
The dismissal of Louis by Chris Woakes, however, prompted a collapse as West Indies lost five wickets in 35 balls.
After Louis was caught by wicket-keeper Jamie Smith for 17, Kirk McKenzie edged Bashir to Smith for one and Brathwaite fell for 47 when he feathered a catch to Smith off Woakes.
Kavem Hodge, who made a century in the first innings, was trapped lbw by Bashir for a duck and Alick Athanaze edged Bashir to Joe Root at slip for one to leave the West Indies reeling at 82-5.
Kevin Sinclair did not last long, skying a catch off his wrist to Zak Crawley in the slips off Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson trapped Joshua Da Silva lbw for 14.
Atkinson bowled Alzarri Joseph for a duck, Bashir bowled Jason Holder for 37 and the spinner bowled Shamar Joseph for eight to complete figures of 5-41.
“I didn’t see it happening that quickly after the opening partnership,” England captain Ben Stokes told the BBC.
“You could see at the end of our innings the wicket started misbehaving, I thought the way we fought back after that first wicket was impressive. On a wicket that didn’t really do that much, I thought Shoaib showed his class.”
Earlier, Root compiled a stylish century to lead England to a second-innings total of 425 all out.
Root made 122, his 32nd Test hundred, after Harry Brook plundered a rapid 109.
Brook, who faced only 132 deliveries, struck 13 fours in his fifth Test century and first on home soil, sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 189 with Root to give England control of the match.
Brook was caught by wicket-keeper Da Silva off Seales and Stokes (eight) and Jamie Smith (six) were dismissed shortly before lunch.
Root held firm, however, and reached three figures with a crisp drive to the cover boundary.
Woakes fell for 12 and Root’s innings ended when he drove Holder straight to McKenzie at cover having passed West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul to climb to eighth on the all-time list of leading run scorers in Test cricket.
Wood was bowled by Jayden Seales for a duck, and the West Indies fast bowler also bowled Bashir, leaving Atkinson unbeaten on 21.
“It’s a tough loss, we pretty much lost 10 wickets in a session. It’s not good enough,” Brathwaite told the BBC.
“It was obviously better than Lord’s but with the ball we weren’t as consistent as we should have been. With the bat, we were good in the first innings but not in the second.”
England won the first test at Lord’s by an innings and 114 runs.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 416 (O. Pope 121, B. Duckett 71, B. Stokes 69; A. Joseph 3-98)
WEST INDIES (1st Innings) 457 (K Hodge 120, J Da Silva 82 not out, A Athanaze 82; C Woakes 4-84)
ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 248-3):
Z. Crawley run out 3
B. Duckett lbw b A Joseph 76
O. Pope c Sinclair b A Joseph 51
J. Root c McKenzie b Holder 122
H. Brook c Da Silva b Seales 109
B. Stokes c A Joseph b Seales 8
J. Smith c Da Silva b Sinclair 6
C. Woakes c Holder b S Joseph 12
G. Atkinson not out 21
M. Wood b Seales 0
S. Bashir b Seales 0
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, NB-4, W-1) 17
TOTAL (all out, 92.2 overs) 425
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Crawley), 2-127 (Pope), 3-140 (Duckett), 4-329 (Brook), 5-341 (Stokes), 6-348 (Smith), 7-378 (Woakes), 8-419 (Root), 9-421 (Wood)
BOWLING: A. Joseph 20-0-103-2 (2nb), Seales 22.2-1-97-4 (1w), S Joseph 19-0-75-1 (2nb), Holder 15-2-54-1, Sinclair 15-1-78-1, Brathwaite 1-0-6-0
WEST INDIES (2nd Innings):
K. Brathwaite c Smith b Woakes 47
M. Louis c Smith b Woakes 17
K. McKenzie c Smith b Bashir 1
A. Athanaze c Root b Bashir 1
K. Hodge lbw b Bashir 0
J. Holder b Bashir 37
K. Sinclair c Crawley b Wood 1
J. Da Silva lbw b Atkinson 14
A. Joseph b Atkinson 0
J. Seales not out 8
S. Joseph b Bashir 8
EXTRAS (LB-8, W-1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 36.1 overs) 143
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-61 (Louis), 2-66 (McKenzie), 3-74 (Brathwaite), 4-75 (Hodge), 5-82 (Athanaze), 6-91 (Sinclair), 7-113 (Da Silva), 8-113 (Joseph), 9-129 (Holder)
BOWLING: Woakes 8-3-28-2, Atkinson 9-1-49-2 (1w), Wood 8-2-17-1, Bashir 11.1-2-41-5
RESULT: England won by 241 runs.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024