Valuable contributions from Kraigg Brathwaite (65), Roston Chase (47) and Shane Dowrich (61) helped the West Indies take the lead.
England's Ben Stokes and West Indies' Jason Holder (C) watch as Holder's shot goes on to be caught by England's Jofra Archer (unseen), to lose his wicket for five runs on the third day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, southwest England on July 10, 2020. (Photo by Mike Hewitt / POOL / AFP)
England openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns successfully dealt with the last 10 overs of the third day to take their team to 15/0 in the second innings after West Indies took a lead of 114 runs in the first innings at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Southampton on Friday.
Following England’s mediocre show with the bat where they put a paltry total of 204, the Windies made 318. Valuable contributions from opener Kraigg Brathwaite (65), Roston Chase (47) in the middle order and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich (61) helped the visitors take the lead.
Resuming the day’s play at 57/1, Brathwaite and Shai Hope laid a solid foundation for the visitors with their partnership of 59 runs. However, after Hope (16 off 64 deliveries) went back to the pavilion, Brathwaite (65 off 125) departed soon as well.
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Another wicket fell soon after and the West Indies found themselves in a tricky situation with the scoreboard reading 186/5. That is when Dowrich and Chase steadied the ship. The 81-run partnership between them played a pivotal role in West Indies’ effort to take the lead in the opening Test of the three-match series.
The all-rounder Chase, though, was left undone by James Anderson after he played a solid knock of 47 off 142 balls. West Indies captain Jason Holder joined Dowrich in the middle but could not stay long as his England counterpart got the better of him in the last session of the day.
Stokes then dismissed Alzarri Joseph after the latter had made 18 off 12 balls before dismissing Dowrich to complete his four-wicket haul. The third session thus turned out to be more fruitful for England than the second, which was largely dominated by Chase and Dowrich.
The hosts’ bowlers toiled hard but couldn’t force a breakthrough as the duo put together an unbeaten 49-run stand till Tea and helped the visitors take a slender 31-run lead at the end of the second session. The pair only increased their run rate after the second new ball was taken before the dismissal of Chase broke the partnership.
Stokes ended up with the figure 4/49, while Anderson emerged as the second best bowler for his numbers 3/62. Dom Bess took 2/51 as Jofra Archer went wicketless.
Brief scores: England 204 & 15/0 (Rory Burns 10 n.o., Dom Sibley 5 n.o.) vs West Indies 318 (Kraigg Brathwaite 65, Shane Dowrich 61; Ben Stokes 4/49)
With IANS inputs.
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