On the third day of the First Test in Antigua, West Indies eked themselves into a position of dominance that leaves England – aching and injured – facing a real battle to escape defeat. Their hopes of winning have been all but extinguished.
It was Nkrumah Bonner’s wonderful 355-ball 123, his second century in Tests (and at this venue), chiselled out across five sessions, that has put the Windies in the ascendancy. By stumps, they led by 62.
He was dismissed in the final minutes of the day, caught down the legside on review by Dan Lawrence’s filthy spin. It was a fine catch by Ben Foakes to give Lawrence his second Test wicket, but there was barely a spike on snicko. Still, after so long, England would take Bonner any which way they could.
This was death by a thousand cuts for England. Bonner never put the foot down, battening down the hatches and frustrating England with nudges and nurdles.
It was a superb knock, and clever batting, because from the lunch break England were a bowler – their most dangerous bowler no less – down. Mark Wood did not take the field first thing, but emerged to bowl five overs in the morning session. At lunch, he received further treatment for an elbow injury, and was not to be seen again.
Given he had an injection on the elbow before the tour, and England are without James Anderson and Stuart Broad (voluntarily) and Jofra Archer, Olly Stone, Sam Curran and Ollie Robinson (involuntarily), their seam resources are being desperately stretched.
Chris Woakes, especially, and Craig Overton, have found life tough across more than 30 overs each, and both had Ben Foakes standing up to them at one stage or another. Both, in fairness, were better on day three than day two. Meanwhile Ben Stokes – whose workloads are supposedly being managed – got through 28 overs. He was the pick of the seamers, but should never have had to bowl so much. The last time he got through that many overs was in 2015.
This was England’s longest innings in the field of what has proved a desperately gruelling winter. The pitch is slow, and West Indies never travelled anywhere too fast (having flown out of the blocks on day two, the run rate had dropped to 2.4 by stumps on day three). They desperately missed Wood’s reverse swing.
Bonner’s knock had started on day two, when his fifth-wicket stand of 79 with Jason Holder fought a fire for the Windies after four quick wickets. Holder fell to Stokes early on day four, but the enterprising Josh da Silva stuck around for a partnership of 73 that took West Indies to within 50 of England.
When da Silva fell, lbw to Jack Leach, Alzarri Joseph followed almost immediately (unwisely suckered into Overton’s short ball play), putting England back on top. But Bonner found two more defiant partners in the tail. Kemar Roach made 15 from 89 balls in a 29-over stand of 44, before Veerasammy Permaul stuck with Bonner for 27 more overs. Roach had been run out by Ollie Pope, Wood’s sub, but West Indies charged on undeterred. Indeed Permaul was a more aggressive presence at the crease.
There were moments of fortune in Bonner’s wonderful knock. On 40, a floaty pull fell just short of midwicket. On 73, he was badly dropped by Zak Crawley at slip off Leach, who toiled admirably across 40 overs. Leach also had two lbw reviews dismissed on the basis of umpire’s call. The umpire thought Ben Stokes had him lbw on 121, but there was a huge inside edge. As stumps approached, Stokes found another edge that flew through the vacant second slip area.
It was an exercise in accumulation, and patience. When it is their turn to bat, England will have to show plenty of that if they are to survive in this game.
