England captain Joe Root admitted he could have been “a bit braver” with his declaration in their draw with West Indies in Barbados, but hailed “another step forward” for his team.
In a similar final day to the First Test in Antigua, England fell short in their attempt to bowl West Indies out on a flat pitch.
Root waited until lunch – thus not losing two overs from the match – to declare in Barbados, setting West Indies 282 in a minimum of 65 overs.
Just as they had in the first innings, they ran into Kraigg Brathwaite, the West Indies captain who faced a remarkable 673 balls in the match.
England have now won just one of their last 16 Tests, but are at least making the running in this series after a dismal performance in the Ashes.
“It was frustrating not to get the win, but the way we played was a brilliant effort on a very placid surface,” said Root.
“It’s really pleasing to see us keep going and going. It’s not a win, but it feels like another step forward as a team. We’ll keep pushing very hard but there’s a number of things that were really promising again.
“We could have maybe been a bit braver with it [the declaration], but it feels like a faster scoring ground here. I thought they might have a little go but it wasn’t the case. It really did feel like a new ball pitch, we needed to make inroads. We did but once that partnership got going it really slowed things up.
“It wasn’t doing anything laterally for the seamers and it started to spin a lot slower so that took Leachy out the game a little bit, that’s the nature of the game.
“We want to win, we’re desperate to win games of cricket. We’re finding positions where we’re on top and commanding the game. We’re able to make those decisions. I’m feeling quite confident about certain aspects of how we’re playing, we felt we had a real opportunity today it’s just a shame we didn’t have another 30 overs or so.”
Root, who made 153 in the first innings, was full of praise for his opposite number Brathwaite.
“It was annoying how good he was!” he laughed. “He played brilliantly in both innings and didn’t give us many opportunities. He ground us down. He’s an ideal player for a pitch like that. Takes it deep time and time again. He had a clear gameplan and stuck to it very well.
“It’s frustrating but there’s a lot of respect for the way he went about it, they played really well. I’ve seen us in certain situations where we’ve not managed to respond well to score of 500 on the board. They stood up well. Credit to them all, it’s set up nicely for what should be an exciting final game.”
Root said the only thing he would have done differently was review an lbw decision when first innings centurion Jermaine Blackwood was scoreless.
“Probably take the review of Blackwood in the first innings, that might have sped the game up,” he said. “It’s always difficult, as a captain on the field you’re not always in line and have to make a decision. You’ve got a bowler telling you it’s going down legside. You hope it gets given but maybe we could have pulled out 10 overs earlier. 240 in 70 might be a big ask for any side on that wicket. It was still pretty flat past the new ball.”
