Day 4: England 284/8 – Archer 5, Wood 1, Gabriel 3/62
For England, Day 4 must be considered a missed opportunity. Whilst West Indies again bowled well, the top order scores of 42, 50, 29, 76 and 46 show a failure to capitalise. Someone in the top 5 needed a century, as it was always likely that wickets would fall in a hurry once a breakthrough came. Burns and Denly contrived to gift their wickets, Crawley was a slightly soft dismissal and Sibley appeared to lose concentration. Twice. For Stokes, it is too scores in the forties and 2 below par dismissals – but credit to the bowlers for putting the ball in the right place often.
The West Indies key tactic has been about keeping control of the game. At no point did the scoring rate get remotely out of control. With the exception of Shannon Gabriel, all the West Indies bowlers had economy rates well under 3, and Gabriel took 3 wickets. For a while, England seemed to be picking things up when Crawley and Stokes were batting – but Crawley had the higher strike rate of the two which was still below 60. It means when that wicket came, England were still not far ahead. They went on to lose 5 late wickets cheaply late in the day. The West Indies discipline has kept them well ahead of the game and they should beat England comfortably.
What are England to do? Well, for now, they must focus on trying to get as near to a 200 lead as possible. The bowlers still have a chance – with bat and ball – to show they were the right selections. When England bowl, they must be ‘on the money’ from the first over, and will need to have West Indies 30/3 and shift the limpet-like Kraigg Brathwaite to have a chance of an unlikely victory. If Brathwaite digs in, as he often does against England, West Indies will cruise to any sub 250 target. Looking ahead to Old Trafford, it is a shame that none of the top 4 have really grabbed their position in this game, but it would seem extremely odd if Denly plays at Crawley’s expense to accommodate Joe Root.
One other talking point is the Gabriel no ball. Sir Ian Botham bowled famously few no balls, and he just kept back from the line. I think no balls should be minimised and therefore the penalty for no balls should be harsh. I also think that it would be easier to have a policy of ‘if in doubt, call it a no ball’, rather than the current policy which is the other way round. This would speed the game up as well. Of course, in the end, it made little difference to the day.
Cricketed 