An extraordinary vigil, full of concentration and composure, from West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite on a slow-scoring fourth day means the Second Test in Barbados is ambling towards a stalemate.
England’s lead going into the final day, when there are 90 overs to be bowled, is 136, with all 10 second innings wickets in hand. Having finally bowled West Indies out in 187.5 overs for 411, a lead of 96, they had 17 overs to bat.
Only 14 were bowled, due to bad light. Their openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley went out as normal, but struggled to score fluently and there was no great urgency. Forcing a result is not impossible, of course, but it is a huge ask. The likelihood is that this game will finish in similar fashion to the series opener at Antigua with England vainly pushing for a win in spite of the conditions. That would set up a decider in Grenada.
The pitch is still as docile as it was when England batted across days one and two. But thanks to the enterprise of Dan Lawrence and especially Ben Stokes, they scored at 3.36 runs an over. West Indies batted 37 more overs for 96 fewer runs.
The innings was defined by the battle between Brathwaite, who made 160, and England’s spinner Jack Leach, who put in a mammoth shift. Leach eventually got his man, but only with his 212th ball to the captain, into his sixth session of batting. 184 of those balls were dots, and Brathwaite took Leach for just four boundaries.
Leach bowled 69.5 overs in the innings, 27 of them maidens, and picked up three wickets, including the last, Joshua da Silva lbw. On an unresponsive pitch, he was not often threatening, but kept things tight, with his economy just 1.68 runs per over. He had bowled well on the second evening, a little more loosely on day three, but was very tight on the fourth. He conceded just 21 runs in his 25.5 overs.
It was a lovely ball, too, that got Brathwaite, who was chanceless until then, a remarkable effort. Leach got one to turn and it kissed the top of off stump but, by that point, it was not far off a pyrrhic victory for the bowler. Brathwaite, with his first hundred on his home ground, left to a huge ovation from the stands, which remained dominated by English supporters. He had batted for approaching 12 hours, and faced 489 – the seventh most ever for West Indies. In terms of minutes, it got into the top five.
There were few memorable strokes, and just 68 of his runs came in boundaries. But it was vital work that was so valuable for his team.
For a team that needed almost 20 overs of the third new ball, England did not do too much wrong. Chris Woakes, again, was the only bowler to slip below expectations, with Ben Stokes putting in another fine shift, and the debutantes Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood enjoying their moments.
With the start delayed a touch by rain, England took a while to break the partnership between Brathwaite and the nightwatchman, Alzarri Joseph. Predictably, it was Stokes who did so, with Joseph well caught at gully by Lawrence.
Jason Holder joined Brathwaite, and made it to lunch, when more rain fell. In the first over after the break, though, Holder played an extraordinary shot, trying to slog Mahmood into the Sobers Pavilion. He miscued, and Fisher took a fine, swirling catch in the wind at mid-on. Mahmood, having been denied it on day three by his no-ball, finally had a maiden Test wicket. That started a fine session for England, in which West Indies scored just 45 runs, with three wickets falling, in 27 overs.
West Indies had ground into the final session of the day and the seventh of the innings. Da Silva kept resisting, but Mahmood had Veerasammy Permaul lbw, and Leach finished the job. Brathwaite’s effort had slowly but surely edged West Indies into a position where they should survive, and set up a decider in Grenada.
