England win the second test against the Windies by a 113 run margin on the fifth day to square the series 1-1.
Toss:-
Jason Holder won the toss and elected to field first.The toss had been delayed because of the rain and to exploit the overhead conditions in the first few hours, the west indies chose to bowl.
Trivia: No team has won a test match after opting to bowl first at Manchester.
Team selection:-
England: Captain Joe Root replaced Denly and the entire pace attack was changed with Archer, Anderson and wood being replaced by Woakes, Curran and Broad.Jofra Archer was dropped following a breach in the code of conduct of the bio-secure protocols.
West Indies:Unchanged
Day 1:-
The west Indies attack had a scrappy start as Gabriel showed early signs of stiffness because of which he couldn’t be consistent in his line and gave a few extras.Both Burns and Sibley played cautiously in the first hour.The pitch didn’t provide much assistance to the quick bowlers and off spinner Roston Chase was soon into the attack.He caught Burns plumb in front of middle stump which helped his side pick up a wicket before an early lunch because of the time lost in the game.
In the post-lunch session Chase dismissed Zak Crawley on the first ball as he tried to flick the ball off his pads but only as far as leg slip.Root played out the hat-trick ball but Chase was clearly getting the ball to turn. After playing for some time on the crease, Root gave away his wicket.He tried to drive Alzarri Joseph through the covers but his outside edge went straight to second slip.Ben stokes came out to bat with a different approach.He played as many balls as possible to get in and along with a well set Sibley took his team to tea at 112-3.
In the third session,Sibley brought up his fifty in 146 deliveries.A slow run rate was maintained by the batsmen but they continued the grind till the end of the day to finish at 207-3.
DAY 2:-
Stokes did not hurry at any stage of his innings showing the range of batting he has.150 run partnership was up and so was Sibley’s 100 in 312 balls as he punched Joseph down the ground.His century comprised of only 4 fours and no sixes but more importantly he took his side in a position from where they couldn’t lose.Stokes remained not out on 99 at lunch.
After lunch, Stokes reached the milestone in 255 balls.He did not repeat the same mistake of throwing his wicket away as he did in the first test.He got a good start here, continued to bat and scored big. He immediately switched gears and played his shots all around the ground.In no time he crossed his 150. After a well made 120 Sibley fell to Chase as he tried to clear the straight boundaries but the top edge was caught by Kemar Roach at cow corner.England at tea were 378-5.
Trivia: The partnership between Stokes and Sibley is England’s second longest partnership (568 balls) in their history and longest partnership since 2000.
Wickets tumbled quickly for the Windies after this partnership was broken.Pope was adjudged LBW to Chase and Roach got 2 wickets in consecutive deliveries.First to come was Stokes at 176 and then woakes.England had already crossed 400 and with not much time in the game they wanted the tired west Indies players to bat for a few overs late in the day.Butler contributed 40 runs with the tail before they declared at 469-9.
The west Indies played out the last hour at the cost of Campbell’s wicket who was dismissed by Sam Curran.The rest of the batsmen opted for a night watchman and Joseph came out to bat taking them to stumps at 32-1.
DAY 3:-
It was a frustrating day for England fans as not a single ball was bowled and eventually the umpires had to make a decision.Play was eventually abandoned on day 3 because of the rains.
DAY 4:-
The forecast was much better on day 4 and an uninterrupted passage of play was expected.If England wanted to win the test match from this point they would have had to dismiss the West Indies twice either by enforcing the follow-on or batting again.
Joseph was dropped by Stokes and he also got away with a lot of edges going through the gully region and over the slip cordon.Finally Bess got his number.Hope and Brathwaite took the windies to lunch at 119-2.
Sam Curran,once again provided England with the breakthrough when the needed it.Hope was out for 25.Brathwaite and Brooks dominated proceedings in this session.Brathwaite player the straight drive on a number of occasions and reached his 19th test fifty.Brooks looked solid at the other end and did not shy away from playing his shots.The commentators at that time compared his batting style to South African legend Hashim Amla in terms of the fluidity in his hands and the trigger movement in his legs leading into that flick shot.The West Indies were firm at 229-4 by the end of the second session.
A turn of events took place after tea.Stuart Broad, dropped in the first match showed exactly what his team missed from him.He was right on the money with the second new ball picking up 3 wickets in 15 deliveries.He consistently attacked the stumps and got his reward.Two of the batsmen were dismissed LBW and the big fish, Blackwood was out for a duck.Woakes cleaned up the lower order and with 11 overs to bat England went with Stokes and Butler to open the inning and maximize their 182 run lead a bit further so that they would have an opportunity to bowl at the West Indies the next day.Butler and Zak Crawley were back in the hut but England just needed a few quick runs.Root and Stokes saw them through at 37-2.
DAY 5:-
Stokes made his intentions clear in the first over of the day itself.He hit 2 boundaries and a maximum giving England exactly what they need.Root at the other end gave the strike back to Stokes who did most of the big hitting.England declared at 129-3 with Stokes playing a T20-like knock of 78.The declaration came at the right time as England would have 85 overs to Bowl at the West Indies.They would get the advantage of using two new balls with the second one available after 80 overs if England reached to that point.They needed 311 runs to win the match.
Woakes and Broad sent the openers back to the pavillion and were on top at lunch reducing the batting team to 25-3
The backbone of their line-up, Chase too fell against Broad and to prevent a loss,the west indies needed a huge effort from their middle order.Brooks and Blackwood looked positive and gave England the threat of a draw as both of them reached their fifties but England’s crisis man, Ben Stokes once again put his hand up and picked up Blackwood’s wicket at the stroke of tea.Stokes bowled from around the wicket to the right hander and he followed the bodyline tactic aiming at the batsman ribs which makes it so difficult for the him to fend it off without letting the ball in the air.
England now needed 5 wickets to win the test match and before you knew it West Indies were already seven down.Bess dismantled Holders stumps with a gem after attacking the rough patch outside the off stump.The last man Roach was out to a sharp catch taken by Ollie Pope at short leg.
Man of the match:Ben stokes
There is nothing Ben stokes cannot do on a cricket field.He scored 176 and 78* and picked up 3 wickets in the match.He is always there if his team needs a wicket or needs him to save them from a batting disaster.Some players have the knack to make things happen out of nothing and Ben stokes is definitely one of those.There was an incident yesterday when Ben stokes was bowling and there was no fielder at mid off and the ball went straight past him as he was completing his follow through and he ran back to the boundary to save the ball with a full length dive just before the ropes.This is his dedication level.
The third #raisethebat test starts on Friday at the same venue and the fate of this series will depend on it.The series is tied at 1-1 so the winner takes all.
Stats credit: ESPNcricinfo
Thanks for reading this.The next one will be posted soon.
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Kanishk Sharma 