England take sizeable lead

Monty Panesar and Ryan Sidebottom scythed through West Indies’ lower-order to put their team in a commanding position after day two of the Third Test. England closed with 9 wickets intact and a lead of 175, despite a day when their bowling attack at times threatened total breakdown. Especially in the second session, Stephen Harmison and Liam Plunkett mostly gave the impression that they simply did not have a clue where the ball was going, and West Indies’ middle-order capitalised. Thanks to the two left-armers, though, they got out of jail. This was after England’s tail had wagged to good effect in the morning.

The not out batsmen, Ian Bell and Harmison, took guard on 296 for 7. Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor started with a ball that was just 4 overs old, and failed to use it well. Harmison was peppered with short deliveries, which he played competently, and Edwards failed to bowl a single delivery aimed at the stumps. Bell, meanwhile, nudged gently on with fields that were mostly set deep. Finally, Harmison gloved a short delivery to Denesh Ramdin and Edwards had his second wicket. After a couple of boundaries which took him to 97, Bell received a brute of a ball from Collymore that moved away and lifted, brushing the top glove, and Ramdin took another easy catch. That should have been that, as before long Sidebottom skied a simple catch off Dwayne Bravo to Taylor at cover. Taylor, however, appeared afflicted by the sun and allowed the ball to slip from his grasp. This allowed Sidebottom and Panesar to swipe a raucous 32 for the final wicket, which was only ended when Daren Ganga brought back Edwards, who immediately uprooted Sidebottom’s leg-stump via a deflection off the pad. England, however, had managed a decidedly above-par 370, of which 47 came from extras.

Three overs were possible before lunch, during which Sidebottom got some swing and Harmison showcased the full range of his scattergun – six wides (from two deliveries), a single, some more leg-side deliveries (one of which cost four byes), and one that nipped back on a good length and trapped Ganga lbw. West Indies lunched at 17 for 1.

After the break, Harmison seemed anxious to live-up to the over before. On the rare occasions a ball was within reach of the batsman, it often hit the middle of the bat, with Chris Gayle taking three fours off his 2nd over. Plunkett almost matched his Durham team-mate’s waywardness, though he managed to persuade Gayle – possibly through boredom at being unable to reach so many terrible deliveries – to scoop one to Alastair Cook at gully. Far from being buoyed by the wickets, though, the Durham spraypaint show continued. Sidebottom and Panesar (introduced into the attack in the 13th over on a seam-friendly surface) initially took far more punishment than their team-mates, with Runako Morton – as befits a man with a double-century in his last innings – crunching the ball around with abandon, including two sizeable sixes off the fingerspinner. Devon Smith, at the other end, showed great composure and waited for the balls that were in an area which he could hit.

Not for the first time in the series, however, a wicket fell just as a sizeable partnership was threatening. Morton at least had no fault in his dismissal on this occasion: Harmison, out of nowhere once more, produced a ball which moved away and lifted, took the outside edge and flew to Strauss at first-slip. Chanderpaul should have followed shortly after the tea interval, but none of bowler, wicketkeeper or Umpire noticed a nick on a ball from Harmison that moved across the left-hander. In the following over from Panesar, however, Smith fell, somewhat unfortunately, as he edged a ball onto his front pad and saw Ian Bell take a superb catch at silly-point. Bell had started to turn away but managed to recover himself and get his hands under the ball. Replays were required to confirm that ball had not touched ground at any point, but after three angles the decision was given by Peter Hartley. Smith had fought hard for his 40, but following 21, 26 and 16 so far in the series he will know that he needs more in the second-innings.

Chanderpaul and Bravo continued to carry the fight, however, taking West Indies past the follow-on target of 171 against bowling which, while improved from the middle session, remained unthreatening. At 215 for 4 after 45 overs, they were threatening to get close to England’s first-innings score. Sidebottom, however, was recalled to the attack in the 46th over and with his first ball at Bravo drew a nick from a ball which held its line. This induced a house-of-cards act from the West Indian lower-order: Ramdin top-edged a short ball from the fired-up Sidebottom for Kevin Pietersen to take a simple catch at square-leg, and Darren Sammy, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore were beaten by classic Panesar deliveries which pitched on a line to hit the stumps, drew the batsmen forwards, turned just enough to catch the edge, and flew straight to slip or gully. In between times, Chanderpaul, who had brought-up his half-century just before Ramdin fell, slapped Sidebottom to Pietersen at short-extra-cover, who, soothingly, took the sort of close-in catch which he had made such a habit of dropping in his early days as a Test cricketer. Had Collymore been given lbw for 0 by Brent Bowden it would have been the last 5 wickets for 1; as it was, England had to make do with the last 5 for 5 and a first-innings lead of 141. Panesar had snapped-up 4-50 and Sidebottom had come back well from a poor start to take 3-48. England, mainly due to Plunkett and Harmison, had almost matched their opponents’ profligacy with extras, totalling 42. 20 byes said little about the efforts of Matthew Prior and much about the Test wide rule.

West Indies had 6 overs at England before the close. Edwards was given the first, and with his 3rd legitimate ball trapped Strauss plumb lbw with a rapid inswinger. Despite 6 no-balls in 3 overs, Edwards remained a threat and Michael Vaughan did well to evade short deliveries and miss large boomeranging away-swingers. Just before the close, Alastair Cook played and missed at Collymore, which elicited an appeal from all bar the bowler. Bowden shook his head, and subsequent Snickometer consultation showed him to be correct. With plenty of time left and a weekend forecast of nothing more than possible showers, West Indies’ only chance is to run swiftly through the England order tomorrow and hope to chase around 270. With 50% of England’s attack badly malfunctioning, meanwhile, they will want a target of at least 400.

England 370
Ian Bell 97, Alastair Cook 60, Michael Vaughan 41
Corey Collymore 3-60

West Indies 229
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 50, Devon Smith 40
Monty Panesar 4-50, Ryan Sidebottom 3-48

England 34-1
Alastair Cook 12*, Michael Vaughan 10*
Fidel Edwards 1-16