Despite
Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach restricting England to 258 on day one, then
Kraigg Brathwaite and Shay Hope each striking centuries to take a 169-run lead,
my lack of faith in Jason Holder’s team was so ingrained that I felt they were
merely delaying the inevitable defeat until the fifth day. England’s serene
progress towards declaring on a second innings of almost 500 reinforced that
prediction. Hardly anyone scores over 300 to win these days so how on earth
could the Windies do it? And in England??
Blow me, they
succeeded! Again relying heavily on Brathwaite and the younger Hope brother,
they managed to withstand all that Anderson, Broad, Woakes, Stokes and Moeen
Ali could throw at them. More catches were dropped but maybe these errors were
creeping in not through bad luck but the pressures of impending home defeat to
a side ranked five places below them.
When the
opener fell on 95, the team were still 125 short. Would England’s ace seam and
swing merchants wreak havoc and restore the natural order?
Credit to
Shai Hope, he didn’t revert to West Indian type and take restless risks T20
style. However, they couldn’t shut up shop completely as they had to keep an
eye on the clock. It would be disastrous to end on, say, 290-6! Hope dug in for
his second century in the match but, on 246-4, Jermaine Blackwood reckoned he
had enough wickets in hand to play an attacking role. He’d made 41 off 44 balls
when, charging Ali for the match-winning boundary, he was stumped by Bairstow.
Never mind, young Shai merely shrugged that off and finished the job.
What a
fabulous finish! It wasn’t just the successful run chase, it was the way the
Windies went about it. Remarkably, Shai Hope not only boosted his Test average
from below 20 to nearly 30 but became the first person ever to slam two first-class centuries in the same game at
Headingley. Not even Hutton, Boycott or Bradman ever achieved that, and here
was an inexperienced 23 year-old doing something the world’s greatest never
could – and in a winning cause. Brilliant!
Nobody should
blame Joe Root for his declaration. Setting a weak team a target of 322 on the
fifth day was a perfectly reasonable decision to make. It’s just that the
opposition at last showed some commitment and courage to meet the challenge and
ensure the Windies had their first Test victory in England since 2000.
And meanwhile,
over in Dhaka, Bangladesh also turned the tables on one of the big boys,
registering an historic maiden Test defeat of Australia. It was a close
encounter in which the spinners were mainly on top. Neither side could manage
more than 260 but in the end, despite David Warner’s defiant second-innings
112, Australia were undone by that man Shakib Al Hasan. He claimed five wickets
for the second time in the game to go with his first innings 84. As the Aussies
found to their cost, when the world’s best all-rounder is on form, anything is
possible.
So what do
this week’s results signify? Will the West Indies and Bangladesh repeat the
feat next week? Despite their efforts in Leeds, I really can’t envisage Joe
Root’s team succumbing again. It remains to be seen whether they persevere with
the struggling Tom Westley but their second innings 50s probably extended the
Test careers of Stoneman and Malan. On the other hand, it is by no means
impossible for a resurgent Bangladesh to claim a second success over Steve
Smith’s men. If saving the series isn’t enough, Australia have the added
incentive of winning to avoid slipping to sixth in the ICC rankings for the
first time.
I don’t
believe this week’s results have any bearings on the Ashes but they have
definitely demonstrated that Test cricket is thriving and deserves to keep its
status as the number one format.
