Wood gives Windies a trial by pace
Mark Wood walks off with the match ball during the third Test between West Indies v England in St Lucia on Sunday. -Cricinfo
||Desk Report||
The day two of the third Test in St Lucia ended with England domination. Returning to the squad, Mark Wood has put England in command for the first time this series since May 2018. A maiden five-wicket haul of Wood helped the visitors to stretch their lead to 142 with all ten wickets remaining.
On day two, West Indies were dismissed for 154. Wood took 5 for 41 while Moeen Ali claimed 4 for 36. In their second innings, two openers Rory Burns (10) and Keaton Jennings (8) guided the visitors to 19-0 at stumps.
Earlier in the morning, England lost their last six wickets for 46 runs as they were bowled out for 277 in St Lucia. The English batting line-up once again proved worse. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, who made a 124-run partnership in the 5-wicket-stand on day one, added only one run on the day two before Gabriel removed Buttler. Stokes added some more runs and then dismissed by Roach for 79. Jonny Bairstow also failed and returned to the pavilion with his two runs by Roach. Moeen Ali (13), Mark Wood (0) and James Anderson (0) followed the top order batsmen and England ended 277.
After their improved batting performance on the opening day, they again collapsed but their fielding was sharp and their bowling disciplined as they dismissed their hosts cheaply to take control of the match.
On the other hand, two openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell gave the Caribbeans a nice start and added 57 runs. But Moeen Ali in his one over struck twice and sent back the two openers serially. Brathwaite scored 12 and Campbell added 41 before departure.
Wood then came on to the bowl and left the Windies reeling at 74 for 5 at Tea. First, he picked up Shai Hope and then Roston Chase in his one over. In the final over before the tea break, Wood added Shimron Hetmyer in his list.
After tea, Darren Bravo became Wood's fourth victim but Dowrich along with Keemo Paul and Roach to gave his side some hope. But Paul was sucked into making a mistake by Moeen while Dowrich was dismissed by Stuart Broad. Moeen also picked up Alzarri Joseph for 2 and Shannon Gabriel cleaned by Wood for 4.
Brief Score
1st Innings
England: 277
Stokes 79, Buttler 67; Roach 4-48
West Indies: 154
Campbell 41, Dowrich 38; Wood 5-41, Ali 4-36
2nd Innings
England: 19/0
Burns 10*, Jennings 8*
England lead by 142 runs
