England finished Day 3 of the second Test in a commanding position on 248/3 leading by 207 runs in the second innings. Joe Root (37*) and Harry Brook (71*) saw England to stumps with their unbeaten 108-run stand. Earlier in the day, West Indies got all out for 457 in their first innings and took a slender lead of 41 runs.
The Kraigg Brathwaite –led side resumed its innings on 351/5 with Jason Holder (23*) and Joshua Da Silva (32*) at the crease. Holder brought up the fifty-run stand between the two with a boundary straight down the ground in the first over. However, he failed to stay for long as England managed to strike early in the third over of the day.
Chris Woakes managed to find a thin edge of Holder’s bat which went straight to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith behind the stumps. Kevin Sinclair walked in next but was dismissed quickly after scoring 4 (14) handing a catch to Harry Brook at gully.
Woakes further chipped in with two back-to-back wickets dismissing Alzarri Joseph (10 off 29) and Jayden Seales (0 off 1) off consecutive deliveries. With West Indies still 30 runs behind on England’s first innings score at 386/9 in 98.5 overs, the hosts hoped to take a small lead heading into the second innings.
Shamar Joseph’s entertaining cameo
However, their hopes were crushed by the pair of Joshua Da Silva and Shamar Joseph who added crucial 71 runs for the last wicket off 78 balls to bring West Indies into lead. Joseph departed after scoring 33 (27) smashing five fours and two sixes, one of which broke the tiles on Trent Bridge’s roof.
On the other hand, Da Silva remained unbeaten on 82* (122) missing out on his second Test hundred. As a result, West Indies got all out for 457 heading into lunch as Chris Woakes picked 4/84.
Duckett and Pope stabilise England after losing Crawley early
Post lunch, England’s second innings began in a disastrous fashion as Zak Crawley was unfortunately run out in the second over. Jayden Seales got a finger on the ball after Ben Duckett hit straight back at him and the ball went on to hit the stumps with Crawley out of his crease.
After the early blow, first innings’ centurion Ollie Pope joined Duckett at the crease and the duo stabilized their innings with a century partnership and took England to tea without losing any more wickets.
In the final session, West Indies got a change of ball with the previous one losing its shape and it worked wonders as Alzarri Joseph managed to force Pope (51 off 67) play a widish delivery which went straight to Kevin Sinclair at gully and brought an end to the 119-run stand.
Duckett (76 off 92) also was trapped in front of the stumps by Joseph with a brilliant yorker which left England on 140/3 leading by 99 runs. However, after two quick wickets, Root and Brook took England to stumps without any more trouble putting them in a commanding position.