West Indies 282 and 33 for two (Louis 18*, Athanaze 5*, Woakes 1-8, Atkinson 1-16) path England 376 (Smith 95, Root 87, Woakes 62, Stokes 54) by 61 runs
Who wore it finest? Opinions could be divided on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony’s acid-dream catwalk however the reply was clearer at Edgbaston.
As an alternative, Stokes threw his head again and his arms into the air in dismay, feeling Smith’s ache as Shamar Joseph’s off-cutter stayed low and dipped underneath a pull shot – up till then such a stand-out characteristic of his innings – and pegged again off stump. Smith was 5 runs shy of his maiden Check century, enjoying simply his third match.
That it was his second half-century already was trigger for celebration. So too, for England followers at the least, was the actual fact he had guided his aspect previous West Indies’ 284 and performed an enormous position in taking them to a 94-run lead on first innings.
That gave England an hour to make incisions and so they did courtesy of Woakes, who rattled Kraigg Brathwaite’s off stump for a six-ball duck, and Atkinson, whose scrambled-seam supply outdoors off lured a prod from Kirk McKenzie, with Smith – unable to remain out of the highlight – taking a easy catch. It might have been three down, however Mikyle Louis survived an in depth lbw choice on umpire’s name after he was left splayed on all fours by a Mark Wooden yorker that struck him flush on the boot. By stumps on the second day, Louis remained not out alongside Alick Athanaze as West Indies trimmed the deficit to 61 runs.
Smith picked up the place his elders had left the England trigger after Root’s glorious 87, which comprised his ninety fifth rating of fifty or extra in Assessments, and took him previous 12,000 runs, within the course of cementing his standing as seventh on the all-time run-scorers’ listing forward of Brian Lara. Stokes was equally resolute in scoring his forty sixth such rating, and whereas each had departed lengthy earlier than tea, Smith, the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batter who scored 70 on debut within the first Check of this sequence at Lord’s, had reached 57 not out.
The afternoon session began ominously for West Indies as Alzarri Joseph conceded 10 off the primary over, together with a brief ball proper in Stokes’ hitting zone which he pulled away with ease for 4 to convey up his half-century, having gone to lunch on 48 not out.
Root reached the 12,000-run milestone off an identical supply pulled to the boundary three balls later. However the short-ball ways paid off in Alzarri Joseph’s subsequent over, this one getting barely greater up round chest-height as Stokes launched right into a cramped pull simply in entrance of sq. leg the place Brathwaite was stationed and took a pointy catch leaping with each fingers stretched above his head.
At that time England nonetheless trailed by 113 runs however Smith was quickly into his stride. If his tried hook off Alzarri Joseph appeared ungainly because the ball looped off his glove over keeper Joshua Da Silva and to the boundary rope, his subsequent shot – pulled onto the roof of the Hollies Stand by no means to return – was gorgeous.
Simply as he had within the first Check at Lord’s, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie denied Root his century, on this event with one which saved low and slid onto the inside-edge of the entrance pad because the batter stepped ahead to defend.
Smith introduced up his fifty punishing a full Jason Holder supply broad of long-on for 4, considered one of 12 for his innings to go alongside that emphatic six. He struck three fours in a single Alzarri Joseph over which went for 17 runs in all, two elegant pull-shots bookending a steer via positive leg.
Woakes was glorious too, elevating his half-century not lengthy after Smith was eliminated, the 106 runs they placed on collectively pivotal to England’s lead.
Root and Stokes had steadied England after the house aspect’s first-day collapse spilled into the second morning.
Ollie Pope, who had been 6 not out in a single day, added simply 4 extra by way of a boundary edged broad of second slip earlier than he was bowled by a Shamar Joseph supply which saved low as he tried to chop and deflected onto his stumps.
Harry Brook confronted simply three balls earlier than he fell driving at a Jayden Seales supply which moved away barely, brushing the sting because it did so and touchdown within the gloves of Da Silva behind the stumps.
Root had survived on 3 when, within the second over of the day, Seales struck him on the pad and, regardless of hearty West Indies appeals for lbw they uncared for to assessment when he was adjudged not out. Replays later confirmed that, in accordance with ball-tracking, it could have hit leg stump.
Root shrugged it off to set about his rebuilding effort, hanging Alzarri Joseph for back-to-back fours to maneuver to 25 and he introduced up his fifty with a single off Holder.
Stokes’s punch down the bottom for 4 off Holder shortly earlier than lunch was the embodiment of his willpower and he slog-swept Motie into the Hollies to maneuver inside another boundary of his fifty, solely to have the shot bettered by Smith.
Valkerie Baynes is a normal editor, girls’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
