Tea West Indies 134 for 7 (Joseph 5*, da Silva 6*) trail England 204 (Mahmood 49, Leach 41*, Seales 3-40) by 70 runs
England’s seamers did unto West Indies what had been done unto their own top-order – but only after a now-familiar false start in a toothless new-ball display – as the third Test in Grenada gathered a chaotic momentum on the second afternoon.
From a serene platform of 50 for 0 after the first hour of the day’s play, West Indies were left scrambling for tea on 134 for 7, following a near-identical collapse to that which had left England in the mire in the contest’s opening exchanges.
But then, after Ben Stokes – inevitably – had shown the way for his team by dragging his length back to trap Kraigg Brathwaite lbw for 17 and set in motion a pre-lunch wobble for 3 for 19, Woakes re-emerged after the break with his methods recalibrated and his threat levels soaring.
Twice in his first two overs, Woakes was in the action with a brace of reviews for leg-side catches – neither of them out, but both of them telegraphing the discomfort on offer on an increasingly two-paced surface. And then, with a startling change-up in pace, he fired in a cross-seamer to the obdurate Nkrumah Bonner, who flapped with his gloves as the ball skidded through lower than anticipated, and Ben Foakes scooped the deflection to confirm West Indies’ panic at 82 for 4.
Three balls later, and it was all hands to the pump for a floundering batting line-up. Woakes fired in another short ball to the imposing Jason Holder, whose response was his third unworthy shot in as many innings – a spiralling top-edged pull to Jonny Bairstow at square leg, and in the space of a single over, Woakes had doubled his series wickets tally, and halved his average, from 88.50 and climbing to the mid-40s.
Suddenly his tail was up and his luck had turned. Two overs later, Jermaine Blackwood hacked a flashy cut past the diving Craig Overton at gully for four, only to fall to his very next ball, as Woakes fired in the fuller length, and extracted an umpire’s call lbw with the batter pinned in front of leg stump.
Though Kyle Mayers then brought his spell to an abrupt end by hacking a calculated pull over midwicket for six, but even so, Woakes’ figures of 3 for 32 were already his second-best in 20 overseas Tests – and potentially a match-winning intervention, given the likelihood that this surface is only going to get more and more uneven as the contest approaches the fourth innings.
For that reason, Mayers took it upon himself to inject some impetus into a stalled innings. Twice, he climbed into Overton with unconventional hacks in front of square for boundaries before deflecting Jack Leach to the third man boundary after his belated introduction for the 43rd over.
But once again, it was Stokes – discomforted, not for the first time, by his long-standing knee injury – who rejoined the attack to end Mayers’ threatening stay on 28. There was perhaps a hint of reverse swing at play as he bent a full ball into middle stump, and Mahmood at midwicket swallowed a comfortable chip. From 128 for 7, it was left to Joshua da Silva and Alzarri Joseph to reach tea with no further loss, and a still sizeable deficit of 70.
That figure is 20 runs fewer than Leach and Mahmood had added for England’s tenth wicket on the first evening, of course. But whether that partnership had been a reflection on the conditions or the bowling, however, was a distinctly moot point. Despite the sense that the nibble in the deck had dissipated, the onus had still been on England’s own seamers to strike hard and fast in the morning session.
Instead – and not for the first time in this series – England’s new ball came and went with scarcely a hint of trouble for West Indies’ opening pair. Prior to this series, Brathwaite and John Campbell hadn’t made a half-century stand on home soil since England’s last visit to the Caribbean in 2019 – and they’ve never yet made a century stand in 35 attempts, the most by a top-order pair in Test history.
They have, however, racked up three fifty stands in as many Tests this series, and once again their success was a reflection of England’s inadequate use of the new ball. Woakes and Overton, reprieved for this Test because of the injury issues that have beset Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood, once again floated the ball up too full and wide for a cracked surface that demanded the ball be driven into the deck to extract the uneven bounce, and both men were all too easily thwarted in the opening exchanges.
But then Stokes showed the way with a shin-smasher to dislodge Brathwaite for his lowest score of the series, and one over later, Campbell got in a tangle to a fearsome lifter from Overton, which followed him into his attempted duck and smashed him flush on the visor. He carried on after a mandatory concussion test, but the success of that length was an indication of the threat that awaited if England were willing to test the facilities.
Sure enough, Mahmood dragged his own length back to pin Shamarh Brooks in front of leg stump with a similarly skiddy delivery to Stokes’, and then, six balls later and in the penultimate over of the session, Overton’s aggression into Campbell’s body paid dividends, as he scuffed an attempted pull down the leg side, and was sent on his way after a review.
It was a sign of lengths to come, and by tea, England had dragged it back, in more ways than one.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket