Newly minted England bowler Saqib Mahmood was given a harsh lesson about life as a Test match paceman on a day sent to try his patience.
Searching for a first Test wicket, and straining every sinew to get it, Mahmood joined a surprisingly large club of recent England bowlers to have theirs chalked off by a no-ball. It was a beauty too as he yorked Jermaine Blackwood with an 85 mph thunderbolt that took the pitch out of the equation and crashed into the stumps.
But just as they did for Mark Wood, Ben Stokes, Mason Crane and Tom Curran, the umpire held out his right arm and the ball had to be bowled again. “It wasn’t a great event for him, but I’m sure he’ll learn his lesson,” said assistant coach Jeetan Patel.
“No-one wants to write about those kinds of stories. But he gets picked because he’s got the skills to do that sort of thing and even on a docile wicket like this we’ve got guys who can add to our armoury.” The Jamaican was 65 not out at the time and it was his second life because he should have gone lbw for a duck early on to Stokes but England chose not to review another questionable decision.
By the time Blackwood was finally removed lbw by Dan Lawrence without playing a shot, he had made his third Test century and helped lift the Windies to 284-4. With Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite also reaching three figures, for the 10th time in his career, the home side’s leaders were repeating the efforts of England’s, albeit at a more sedate pace.
Stokes enjoyed a slice of fortune to remove Nkrumah Bonner. TV umpire Gregory Brathwaite gave him out lbw even though the ball appeared to clearly hit his pad via an inside edge. It reduced the Windies to 101-3, but their hopes of a domino effect never materialised as the pitch and the home side remained unbreakable.
England have long found it tough to take wickets away from home on flat pitches and while there can be little finger pointing at two new bowlers Mahmood and Matthew Fisher, the lack of threat elsewhere was disappointingly familiar. Both Chris Woakes and Jack Leach are desperately trying to suggest that they may be able to change this trend, but it has been hard work so far.
“I think Jack bowled really well,” added Patel. “He got the ball past the bat and beat the inside of the bat and created edges but they didn’t go to hand. He’s grafted for 34 overs and the worm will turn for him, he just has to keep putting those performances in.”
For both Mahmood and Fisher they were busy learning a valuable lesson, early in their Test careers. At this level the batsmen you are up against might simply be equal to everything you throw at them and sometimes the pitch is so flat that it can become attritional, a grind, and a battle of wills, let alone skills.
