Not even Ben Stokes could pull off a miracle this time. Not even England’s stand-in captain could stop his opposite number in Jason Holder having the final word at the end of a tumultuous first Test by leading West Indies to a famous victory.
Something seemed to be stirring at a deserted Ageas Bowl on Sunday when Stokes brought himself back for one last throw of the dice and dismissed Shane Dowrich and then Jermaine Blackwood as West Indies stuttered within sight of the finishing line.
But not even the man who last year pulled off the twin feats of inspiring a World Cup victory and then producing probably the best innings in English Test history to win an Ashes Test could mark his first game in charge by confounding the odds again.
Jermaine Blackwood took advantage of errors as he moved the West Indies closer to victory
England’s Ben Stokes (R) reacts as West Indies’ Jason Holder (L) grabs a run on the fifth day
England fast bowler Jofra Archer struck twice before lunch to raise hopes of a day-five victory
Kraigg Brathwaite dragged an Archer delivery onto his stumps for the first West Indies wicket
Instead it was Holder who settled any nerves West Indies were feeling as they edged towards their target of 200 with an unbeaten 14 before the limping John Campbell hit the winning run with four wickets left. It was a fitting end to this historic Test.
How apt it was that the hugely impressive Holder should be at the crease to help steer home a West Indies side who looked to have blown their chance of only a second Test win in England in 20 years when they collapsed to 27 for three.
And how the man who is ranked the best all-rounder in the world above Stokes, as he gently reminded us before the game, will relish a victory West Indies richly deserved.
Remember, West Indies agreed to come here with the covid crisis in England at its peak and were then shut away firstly at Old Trafford and then here in Southampton before the first of three Tests that will save millions of broadcast money for the ECB.
Then Holder and his team showed great dignity in their support not only for the financial health of English cricket but also the Black Lives Matter movement they so poignantly backed with their words and actions ahead of the Test.
Archer then had Shamarh Brooks trapped LBW to crush the visitors’ hopes of a win
There have been plenty of false dawns since the great days of Caribbean cricket came to an end but perhaps this really is the start of a proper Test resurgence for West Indies under a worthy successor to their great leaders of the past.
Yet it could have been so different. A West Indies win looked a long way away when Jofra Archer returned to his hostile and brilliant best after a difficult winter by taking two of the three early wickets and forcing Campbell to retire with a painful blow to the toe.
But it was then West Indies found an unlikely saviour in the form of Blackwood, who has rarely displayed the discipline and responsibility of a Test batsman since making a century against England in Antigua five years ago.
Blackwood, who has been dropped five times in his Test career, could have been left out here had West Indies picked a specialist spinner in Rahkeem Cornwall but instead played the innings that lifted his side to within one win of retaining the Wisden Trophy.
West Indies’ John Campbell was forced to leave the field after injuring his toe on day five
England, though, could only blame themselves for allowing Blackwood to reach 95 before he finally holed out to Jimmy Anderson at mid-off for the second time in the match.
They gave him no fewer than three lives as the pressure told on an England side who had gone some way towards justifying Stokes questionable decision to bat first by extending their overnight score to 313, man of the match Shannon Gabriel finishing with five wickets, and setting West Indies a far from easy target.
Firstly the captain himself moved too quickly to his right at slip and could not hold a cut off Dom Bess when Blackwood was on five. Then Jos Buttler spilt a chance down the legside off Stokes that was wrongly given as leg-byes but would have been corrected had England’s keeper held on to the ball.
Shannon Gabriel celebrated dismissing Archer after an impressive stint for the Englishman
Finally Rory Burns at gully seemed to completely lose a Blackwood cut on 29 even though the empty seats provided the perfect backdrop for a catch, Stokes compounding the error by over-stepping for yet another undetected no-ball.
When Zak Crawley fumbled a run-out opportunity with Blackwood and Roston Chase almost at the same end England’s fielding profligacy was complete and West Indies were let off the hook to move on to a win that beautifully sets up this series.
Stokes may have last night stood by his two big decisions here in batting first and leaving out Stuart Broad but he must regret not bowling when conditions demanded it on Wednesday.
The Broad call is more debatable but the dilemma England have now is that Emirates Old Trafford should provide better conditions for the quickest bowlers in the second Test than here and they may have to accept they backed the right horses at the wrong course.
Archer managed some excellent strikes before being dismissed as last man out for 23
Archer, who took a third wicket with an absolute brute of a delivery to Chase, is surely an automatic pick again but England will think long and hard over whether Jimmy Anderson and Mark Wood should again play ahead of Broad and Chris Woakes on Thursday or be rested.
An easier decision, surely, will be to bring to an end the under-achieving Test career of Joe Denly on Joe Root’s return and back the class and potential of a batsman who made their highest score in the match of 76 here in Zak Crawley.
England face a headache too over what to do with a man they are so desperate to see succeed at Test level in Buttler, who again disappointed with the bat here and then dropped a catch off Blackwood that would probably have won the match for England. Buttler will almost certainly stay for now but he is playing for his Test future in Manchester.
‘Good luck Joe,’ smiled Stokes when he said last night that it would be up to Root again to make those big calls now. The captain will return with a big job on his hands if England are going to do what they did in South Africa last winter and come back from one down to win this series.