Mark Wood’s pace puts England in control against West Indies

The half an hour before tea produced one of those “Oh, my!” moments. During that time Mark Wood bowled a succession of deliveries in excess of 90mph, including the fastest ball of the series at 94.8mph. In 19 balls he took the wickets of three startled West Indies batsmen and transformed the match.

In the slip cordon, where Joe Root resides, and on the England balcony, where the coaches were looking on spellbound and jubilant, they must have been thinking “Oh, my!”, an exclamation quickly followed by “What if we had let Wood loose on them earlier in the series?”

To be fair to the decision-makers Wood has never before bowled this fast for England, nor with such potency. He ended with career-best figures of five for 41 and his first four victims were caught in the slip cordon, fine catches since the ball was flying in that direction at high velocity. In an electrifying spell he soon had that slip cordon creeping backwards.

Wood found himself on a hat-trick after the completion of his first over, yet he was not the first England bowler in this innings to be in this position. Earlier, Moeen Ali had dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell with consecutive balls.

It was an extraordinary day of Test cricket with England bundled out for the addition of 46 runs in the morning even though they began with six wickets in hand. Then, as the West Indies openers added 57 without being parted against the old firm of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, the England supporters in the party stand decided to have a good time anyway, summoning up more beers and singing along to Sweet Caroline in between overs to keep themselves happy.

Moeen and Wood, two of the least cynical and most popular cricketers on the circuit, soon diverted their attention back to the Test match. Suddenly, there was a red-blooded game of cricket going on and England had regained control. By the close they led by 142 with 10 wickets in hand.

This has been a series for pace bowlers even though England were slow to recognise that. In part, the West Indies’ bowlers have prevailed because they have been quicker and because the home side has been prepared to play on lively pitches, which in Antigua and in St Lucia have had an unusual amount of grass left on them. Grass often translates to pace, which invariably delivers a fine spectacle – no matter the overs are sometimes bowled too slowly for the authorities and the curmudgeons. Even so, we have yet to watch any cricket on the fifth day in this series and that now seems unlikely again after the clatter of 16 wickets on Sunday.

The first six dismissed batsmen were Englishmen unable to capitalise on all the hard work of Saturday afternoon. Jos Buttler, his feet stuck on the crease, was bowled through the gate by a fast delivery from Shannon Gabriel without adding to his overnight score.

Ben Stokes had scored 79, his highest innings since his return to the side after the last Ashes series, when he fell victim to a superb diving catch by Shane Dowrich in pursuit of a top-edged pull.

Jonny Bairstow’s return to No 7 was unproductive; he agonised for 32 balls for his two runs before being bowled off the inside edge, driving at Roach. Moeen flickered very briefly and the tail declined to wag. Perhaps Stokes and Buttler had played better than we thought on the first day.

The West Indies openers did not seem to encounter too many problems. Broad and Anderson beat the bat as they often do but Brathwaite survived while Campbell started to prosper. The left-hander struck a lofted straight four and a clipped six against Anderson and began to bristle against Broad, who withdrew the gauntlet by bowling a little shorter against him. This limited Campbell’s run-scoring options as well as the chances of Broad dismissing him.

Sensibly, Root turned to Moeen with swift success. Brathwaite, a model of sobriety against all other types of bowlers, swung towards wide long-on where Anderson held another fine outfield catch. This was the fourth time in the series Moeen has dismissed Brathwaite. Next ball, Campbell was on strike since the batsmen had crossed and he flicked towards midwicket, missed the ball and was lbw.

Now Wood galloped to the fore with the wind behind him. In his first over Shai Hope sliced a drive to gully where Rory Burns held a sharp chance and his effort to catch Roston Chase off a lifter next ball was even better. Shimron Hetmeyer survived the hat-trick ball but edged to Root at first slip just before tea against another rapid Wood delivery.

After the break Darren Bravo fell in similar fashion. In his eight-over spell, interrupted by tea, Wood had taken four for 37. The West Indies middle-order had been blown away and Wood had advanced his career prospects significantly in the process.

Keemo Paul played a couple of exotic shots before he was stumped from his first delivery from Moeen. With Wood resting normal cricket resumed for a while. Stokes was not summoned, an indication he is not fully fit but eventually Broad had Dowrich lbw on review. More likely to bring a smile to Broad’s face was a stunning one-handed catch, running backwards at mid-off, to dismiss Alzarri Joseph, who was swiping at Moeen.

Root then recalled Wood to allow him his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket and a standing ovation.

source: theguardian.com