When Kraigg Brathwaite received the toss and elected to bat first simply after 10.30am on the morning of day one of many third Take a look at at Edgbaston, the final consensus was it had been a straightforward resolution for the West Indies captain.
Eight hours and 13 wickets within the day’s play later, with West Indies being bowled out for 282 and England stumbling to 38-Three on the shut in Birmingham, these early expectations had been properly and actually confounded.
Gus Atkinson did a lot of the injury for the hosts with the ball, taking 4-67 to proceed his spectacular begin to his Take a look at profession, and fellow seamer Chris Woakes, who chipped in with 3-69 on his dwelling floor, was relieved England had been in a position to benefit from when the ball was swinging.
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“After we bowled them out, I used to be actually completely happy,” Warwickshire bowler Woakes informed Sky Sports activities. “Clearly to lose three within the night session will not be perfect, not the right finish to the day.
“We have to be completely happy for what we did, having misplaced the toss and being requested to bowl first, and bowling them out on what was a superb pitch was a superb day, I suppose.
“Dukes balls take some time to get the lacquer off earlier than they swing, nevertheless it did swing from the beginning and there was an enormous wind coming from throughout the bottom which helped the away swing from the far finish to right-handed batters.
“Aside from the ploy via the center after we went quick for a short time, as soon as we received the ball again it was nonetheless in a superb situation and moved within the air a bit bit all day. If that hadn’t been the case, it could have been a more durable day.”
Though there have been so many wickets to go down on day one, they tended to return in clusters in remoted durations when there was some swing for the seam bowlers fairly than steadily all through the day, with West Indies pair Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva dominating a lot of the afternoon by placing on 109 for the sixth wicket.
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Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis had made a gap stand of 76 too earlier than Ben Stokes’ facet took wickets both facet of lunch to go away the vacationers 115-5 earlier than Holder and Da Silva got here collectively, and former England seamer Stuart Broad felt there have been a number of elements at play throughout that interval.
“Mark Wooden bowled a jaffa to Kirk McKenzie, the remaining are simply batter error and psychological switch-offs – that is very irritating once you’re in a altering room the place that occurs,” Broad informed Sky Sports activities.
“Finally, you need to give credit score to the bowling unit for making use of stress. It isn’t all about bowling balls to take wickets, it is typically the lead-up into getting that wicket which will get you there.
“This can be a 350 minimal [pitch] so that you can benefit from profitable the toss.”
Any hopes England had of having fun with a greater time with the bat had been rapidly checked as they misplaced three wickets inside the ultimate 35 minutes of day one after bowling West Indies out, with Jayden Seales accounting for Zak Crawley and nightwatchman Mark Wooden, and Alzarri Joseph getting Ben Duckett out coming across the wicket to the left-hander.
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It means vice-captain Ollie Pope and former skipper Joe Root have one thing of a rebuilding job on their fingers in the beginning of day two after surviving to the shut, though Woakes stays assured the circumstances nonetheless favour the batting workforce regardless of a wierd first day.
“You wish to get, naked minimal, as much as the identical as them,” Woakes stated. “We nonetheless really feel it is a good batting floor.
“You wish to get overs within the legs of the opposition bowlers and hopefully there is a interval the place you possibly can actually money in, construct an enormous partnership with a few of our middle-order gamers, after which runs down the order are key.
“Clearly we’re nonetheless seeking to get forward of them.”
England’s Take a look at sequence vs West Indies
Watch the second day of the third Take a look at between England and West Indies, from Edgbaston, reside on Sky Sports activities Cricket from 10.15am on Saturday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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