Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood were the tailend heroes as they made up for a vintage calypso collapso from their batters.
Their final wicket partnership of 90 was a remarkable performance that dragged this innings away from the horrors of recent times and gave England a foothold in the match. Mahmood’s off drive for four in the final over of the day brought him just one run away from a maiden first class fifty and it was the least he deserved.
But before he could raise his bat, Jermaine Blackwood bowled him to end the innings at 204 - a far cry from when the scoreboard read 114-9. With 37 overs left in the day’s play, Mahmood strode to the wicket, and no-one would have expected to still see him and Leach together as the players walked off at the close.
Certainly his teammates didn’t think he would last that long as they went and got changed into their whites in readiness to get out into the field, something that didn’t go unnoticed. “I saw that and mentioned it to Leachy,” said Mahmood. “They were a bit cheeky for getting their whites on and that did spur us on a bit.
“I had a glance over later to see if some had taken them off but they left the whites on throughout. We did spot that. We made sure we got through the spell from Joseph and Seales who were the danger bowlers, and then enjoyed ourselves. After I got dropped I said I was going to take him down and I managed to get hold of a couple, which was good fun.”
With the steel pans making sweet music on one side of the ground and local supporters baiting English fans with a smile on the other - “Where are you Barmy Army?!!” - for a time this was a throwback to Windies tours of the 80s and 90s. Only it wasn’t all about terrifying fast bowlers who would be just as happy taking your head off as taking your wicket.
This was about a gentle medium pace all rounder playing in his first game of the series and leading the charge for the quick men to follow. Kyle Mayers is a batsman who bowls, but he was too good for Joe Root who fell for a rare duck as his team slumped to 67-7, before Mahmood was able to ‘take him down.’
The Windies could and should have wrapped up the England innings far sooner but they twice put down chances, at slip when Leach was on 10, and then at cover when Mahmood had made 15. How much they will come to rue those mistakes will soon become apparent as this game unfolds, but England will feel like they have slipped the shackles here and now have the chance to wrestle control on day two.
It had been a horror start for England who saw Zak Crawley gift his wicket with a booming drive to short extra cover before his team-mates took it in turns to either nibble at balls they could have left or missed balls heading for the stumps. Even the great Joe Root was undone for a duck edging behind, when many wondered whether he would gather the 116 runs he needs for 10,000 in Tests in a single innings.
