Key events
94th over: West Indies 370-7 (Da Silva 36, Joseph 7) Stokes puts down a catch in the covers! It was a very tough chance. Atkinson landed a back of a length ball to Joseph who tried to work it with the angle into the leg side. He caught it with a leading edge which spooned into the covers. Stokes ran in and dived at it with one hand but couldn’t hold on as his arm hit the turf. A half chance, but one we now expect Stokes to take every time.
93rd over: West Indies 370-7 (Da Silva 36, Joseph 7) Woakes beats Da Silva’s edge twice in the over. How he hasn’t nicked one is beyond me. Woakes is angling in and straightening it off a good length. It really is terrific bowling. As a batter you just have to hope that you don’t get anything on it. He’s beaten again, but this time as he goes searching for a drive on the front foot. That’s five near misses for the Windies ‘keeper by my count.
Jamie Smith has been great behind the stumps.
Of course this means there’ll be plenty of discourse around his selection in the near future. As Tom V d Gucht points says:
Morning,
Great to see Jamie Smith starting so well. I must admit, I’d raised my eyebrows at his selection initially, but having watched the highlights, he looks impressive.
The only question now is who his wicket keeping nemesis will be in the eternal England duel between pure keeper and batsman keeper all-rounder. He joins the rich heritage including: Knot vs Taylor; Stewart vs Russell; Read / Foster vs Jones; Ambrose vs Prior; Bairstow vs Buttler; buttler vs Foakes; Bairstow vs Foakes…. I’m excited to see who picks up the mantle next.
92nd over: West Indies 369-7 (Da Silva 36, Joseph 6) Atkinson spins Da Silva like a top with a proper jaffa from short of a length, angling in and straightening off the deck. He goes fuller with the next delivery and beats the bat again. Top bowling. Joseph pickes up a single from an in-swinger that’s pushed towards square leg.
91st over: West Indies (Da Silva 36, Joseph 5) Alzarri Joseph clips his first ball for four through midwicket as if he were the second coming of Viv Richards. He played some gorgeous drives at Lord’s and that’s another delightful stroke. The fella can play! He’ll keep the strike with a single. Da Silva isn’t in farming mood yet as he ticks along with a single of his own.
WICKET! Sinclair c Brook b Atkinson 4 (West Indies 362-7)
A sharp grab in the cordon and the West Indies are teetering! Full from Atkinson from the final ball of the over, Sinclair couldn’t resist the width on offer. But he was playing from his crease so his head was nowhere near the ball. A thick edge flies towards Brook in a wide third slip position and he holds on well around head height.
90th over: West Indies 362-7 (Da Silva 35).
89th over: West Indies 360-6 (Da Silva 34, Sinclair 3) There’s a run-out chance as Sinclair’s swishing cut is mistimed into the covers. Pope scampers to field and throws at the stumps from his knees. By his reaction it was pretty close. Sinclair had already given up as he ambled towards the non-striker’s end. A single for Da Silva at the top of the over is a sign that he won’t be farming the strike just yet. He might do against Atkinson and Wood.
Krishna Moorthy is hedging his bets with these predictions:
Good morning Daniel
My take on who is the winner between day 1 and day 2
While WI scored 60 runs less, they managed to NOT lose an additional 5 wickets
All tge omens lead to a capitulation of England in the second innings and
1. WI winning the second test by knocking off the required runs by day 4
Or
2. WI implodes and give away a 2-0 lead.
88th over: West Indies 358-6 (Da Silva 33, Sinclair 2) Good pace from Atkinson. Unlike Wood he requires a few overs to get up to speed but he’s cranking it up. Sinclair picks up another single with a squirt past gully. Da Silva keeps the strike with a clip behind square.
87th over: West Indies 356-6 (Da Silva 32, Sinclair 1) Woakes has come under criticism this series but it’s his early wicket that has England up and running. Classic wobble seam on a good length. He makes it look simple when he gets it right. Sinclair, the new man in, gets off the mark with a single in the deep from a swiping pull shot.
WICKET! Holder c Smith b Woakes 27 (West Indies 355-6)
Got him! Woakes lands on one a good length, brings Holder forward and compels him to prod away from his body. It looks soft but one of those that either takes the edge or it doesn’t. This one does and Smith could have caught that with his eyes closed. Good start for England who are now into the bowlers.
86th over: West Indies 355-5 (Holder 27, Da Silva 32) Atkinson opens up the Stuart Broad end and begins with a maiden. The highlight from that over was a great take from Smith behind the stumps with the gloves on. he’s had a terrific start to his Test career. He’s yet to concede a bye.
Gary Naylor is at Trent Bridge, sitting in the front row of the media centre (which is a great place to watch cricket) and is in a reflective mood:
“Muggy and oppressive, this is the kind of morning that Hadlee and Rice would roll Essex for 80-odd. A first hour of 30-1 might suit England more than 30-4, as I’m not sure I’d want to be batting for too long before lunch. Ben needs to ask Joe about how to set negative fields.”
85th over: West Indies 355-5 (Holder 27, Da Silva 32) Woakes opens up the day and is angling into Holder. His final ball of the over is a half volley and the big unit leans forward and unfurls a gorgeous drive down the ground. Fifty partnership up for these two.
Right, here we go! Start of the third day. It looks muggy out there. Could help the bowlers.
For the second day in a row, Simon Dennis emerges as a hero, providing the TMS link for overseas listeners.
Hat tip to you Simon. You’re doing the Lord’s work.
We’ve got our first email of the morning and it’s from Martin O’Donovan-Wright:
Morning Daniel,
Yes, I’m going to be that guy, the ‘keeper of the flame’ test addict, but I feel it’s defensible because it doesn’t get much better than this: an even contest, with a guy firing down thunderbolts from one end, a tweaker probing from the other, against two well set bats who have to re-establish themselves at the start of a new day… I bloody love test cricket.
“I’ve got a wife and kids!”
How good is this from Kaven Hodge, the West Indian centurion who faced up the unreal heat delivered by Mark Wood.
93.9, 96.1, 95.2, 92.2, 96.5, 95.2.
Those are the speeds recorded by Mark Wood yesterday in a single over.
As Simon Burnton writes, “It was the fastest over bowled by an English bowler in this country since records began in 2006, a title it held for something in the region of 10 minutes, the time it took for him to bowl a second. That record survived until he bowled his third”
England are sweating over mark Wood’s fitness. He was sensational yesterday, delivering some of the fastest bowling I’ve ever seen, hurtling overs that didn’t include a ball slower than 90mph.
Hopefully he’s OK.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
Sound the delicately poised klaxon, we’ve got a Test match on our hands!
And who’d have thought after the capitulation of the West Indian batters at Lord’s that we’d be here, at the start of day three of the second in the series, with the tourists trailing by a mere 65 runs with five wickets in hand on a great batting deck.
After England notched 416 on the first day, with Ollie Pope’s 121 leading the Bazball supercharge, the West Indies kicked off under brilliant blue skies in Nottingham and went to work.
Some soft dismissals curtailed their reply, but a controlled 175-run stand for the fourth wicket between the classy Alick Athanaze – dismissed for 82 – and the resolute Kavem Hodge – who peeled off a wonderful 120, his first ever Test ton – put the Islanders back in the game. It was a partnership built on gumption and guile as they repelled the searing heat of Mark Wood who reached blistering speeds of 97.5 mph.
Jason Holder (23*) and Joshua Da Silva (32*) survived some scares but will resume their union worth 46-runs. Reaching parity will be their primary aim. Do that and we could have an unlikely upset forming over the horizon.
I’m buzzing for this. If you are too then please feel free to drop me an email. I promise I read them all and welcome any thought you may have no matter how whacky or niche.
Play resumes at 11am BST. I’ll fill the blog with bits and bobs til then.
