England Crush West Indies by 241 Runs: Bashir, Root, and Brook Shine
An hour of England bowling dominance in the second test match late on day four West Indies’ ambitions of chasing 385 runs were scuppered.
Following Joe Root and Harry Brook’s setup of England against the West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge, Shoaib Bashir’s first five-wicket haul on English soil clinched the win for the hosts in less than four days.
England 416 (Pope 121, Duckett 71, Stokes 69) and 425 (Root 122, Brook 109, Duckett 76, Pope 51, Seales 4-97) beat West Indies 457 (Hodge 120, Da Silva 82*, Athanaze 82, Woakes 4-84) and 143 (Brathwaite 47, Bashir 5-41) by 241 runs.
Before the hosts were bowled out for 425 in their second innings—the first time in England’s history that they have scored 400 in both innings of a Test match—Brook and Root each hit hundreds, setting the West Indies a target of 385.
Then, at 20 years and 282 days, off-spinner Bashir broke the previous record held by recently retired seamer James Anderson and became the youngest bowler from England to take five wickets in a men’s Test match at home. His five wickets in forty-one balls gave England a 241-run victory and a commanding two-point lead in the Richards-Botham Trophy series.
Even after Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis led the West Indies to 61 runs without losing in the opening Test of this series, the task was still challenging on a flat batting track and with a historic run-chase at Headingley nearly seven years ago still in the back of some people’s memories—certainly captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s.
However, West Indies lost 5 for 21 in 35 balls thanks to Chris Woakes and Shield, and Bashir sealed the deal as they were bowled out for 143 after losing 10 for 82 overall.
Following the evening drink break, Woakes struck first, a length ball outside off stump that enticed Louis to give a thin edge behind. Shortly after, Kirk McKenzie misplayed a drive off a short delivery from Bashir and was caught by Jamie Smith with a superb catch behind the stumps.
At 47, Brathwaite edged Woakes to the keeper, and Bashir gave Root another edge at slip with a ball that dipped and spun noticeably off Alick Athanaze. Between, Bashir had lbwd first-inning centurion Kavem Hodge and had 3 for 8 after three overs.
After bowling with unbelievable pace in the first innings against the West Indies, Mark Wood unleashed a different kind of venom to remove Kevin Sinclair. His short ball sprang up higher than the batter anticipated, and when Sinclair put his hands in front of his face, it rapped his glove’s wristband, resulting in a second slip.
After amassing an undefeated 82 in the opening session, Joshua Da Silva began to play some strokes. He took Gus Atkinson for four through midwicket and crunched Bashir over the fence at long on. However, Atkinson answered in the following over, bowling Alzarri Joseph to bring England on the verge of victory after he stepped back in from outside off to strike Da Silva on the back pad in line with middle stump.
As soon as Jason Holder took him for six and four to bring his score up to 37, Bashir rocked off stump with a masterpiece that beat the edge and turned in, forcing the West Indies to trail nine.
Ben Stokes, his captain, was ecstatic when Bashir bowled Shamar Joseph with a fuller ball on middle stump, giving his young protege his third five-wicket haul in just his fifth Test match.
Also Read: Joshua Da Silva and Shamar Joseph Propel West Indies to a 41-Run Lead Against England
With 11,940 runs throughout his innings, Root moved up to ninth place on the all-time Test run-scorers’ list. Earlier, he was at ease as he scored 122, his 32nd Test century.
With equal ease, Brook had reached 109 after the two combined for 198 runs at the fourth wicket. That came after Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, who had both reached fifty and amassed 119 runs between them, had fallen in rapid succession on the third day.
West Indies were in danger of losing the match as Root and Brook established their stand, but Seales broke through with a double-strike on the fourth morning and another wicket on the final ball before lunch to Sinclair. Although they increased England’s overnight total by 100 runs, the hosts lost three wickets for a total of 19 runs in 7.2 overs.
After Brook nudged Alzarri Joseph for a single to mid-on, he reached his fifth Test century, his first on home soil. Two balls later, Root clipped one to the leg side to reach his fifty and the 150 partnership.
However, following an almost faultless performance, he was caught off guard by a Seales delivery that veered off course and found the edge before sailing through to Da Silva behind the stumps.
Seales scored another when he cheaply dispossessed Stokes by square-leg-backing a short ball to Alzarri Joseph.
Jamie Smith was sent to the crease as a result, but he could only muster six before Sinclair’s delivery on off stump gave him a slight edge, and Da Silva was able to collect.
Root celebrated his century with a thunderous drive through deep point for four off Alzarri Josephsph, just moments after Woakes edged a rising Shamar Joseph delivery towards second slip, where the towering Holder took a solid catch moving to his left with arms stretched above his head.
Holder made a brilliant comeback to the attack, as Root sent a deep, wide ball straight to Kirk McKenzie at cover. With enthusiastic cheers from the audience and handshakes from his rivals, Root left.
Seales witnessed two consecutive balls when Wood was caught by slips, but he bowled Wood for a duck with the third ball, a fuller delivery that was placed just outside off and sailed in and clattered into the top of off stump. With a yorker bowling the final man out, Bashir, England’s innings was terminated by Seales’ fourth wicket.
