When Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and elected to bat first just after 10.30am on the morning of day one of the third Test at Edgbaston, the general consensus was it had been an easy decision for the West Indies captain.
Eight hours and 13 wickets in the day’s play later, with West Indies being bowled out for 282 and England stumbling to 38-3 at the close in Birmingham, those early expectations had been well and truly confounded.
Gus Atkinson did most of the damage for the hosts with the ball, taking 4-67 to continue his impressive start to his Test career, and fellow seamer Chris Woakes, who chipped in with 3-69 on his home ground, was relieved England were able to make the most of when the ball was swinging.
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Chris Woakes removed Joshua Da Silva to break his strong partnership with Jason Holder as West Indies fought back against England
“When we bowled them out, I was really happy,” Warwickshire bowler Woakes told Sky Sports. “Obviously to lose three in the evening session is not ideal, not the perfect end to the day.
“We’ve got to be happy for what we did, having lost the toss and being asked to bowl first, and bowling them out on what was a good pitch was a good day, I suppose.
It turned out to be a day for the bowlers on day one of the third Test between England and West Indies
“Dukes balls take a while to get the lacquer off before they swing, but it did swing from the start and there was a big wind coming from across the ground which helped the away swing from the far end to right-handed batters.
“Other than the ploy through the middle when we went short for a little while, once we got the ball back it was still in a good condition and moved in the air a little bit all day. If that hadn’t been the case, it would have been a harder day.”
Although there were so many wickets to go down on day one, they tended to come in clusters in isolated periods when there was some swing for the seam bowlers rather than steadily throughout the day, with West Indies pair Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva dominating most of the afternoon by putting on 109 for the sixth wicket.
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Joe Root took a wonder catch to remove Gudakesh Motie and move England one wicket away from bowling out West Indies in their first innings
Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis had made an opening stand of 76 too before Ben Stokes’ side took wickets either side of lunch to leave the tourists 115-5 before Holder and Da Silva came together, and former England seamer Stuart Broad felt there were several factors at play during that period.
“Mark Wood bowled a jaffa to Kirk McKenzie, the rest are just batter error and mental switch-offs – that’s very frustrating when you’re in a changing room where that happens,” Broad told Sky Sports.
Gus Atkinson claimed four wickets for England on day one at Edgbaston
“Ultimately, you have to give credit to the bowling unit for applying pressure. It’s not all about bowling balls to take wickets, it’s sometimes the lead-up into getting that wicket which gets you there.
“This is a 350 minimum [pitch] for you to make the most of winning the toss.”
Any hopes England had of enjoying a better time with the bat were quickly checked as they lost three wickets inside the final 35 minutes of day one after bowling West Indies out, with Jayden Seales accounting for Zak Crawley and nightwatchman Mark Wood, and Alzarri Joseph getting Ben Duckett out coming around the wicket to the left-hander.
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West Indies stunned England by dismissing openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett early on
It means vice-captain Ollie Pope and former skipper Joe Root have something of a rebuilding job on their hands at the start of day two after surviving to the close, although Woakes remains confident the conditions still favour the batting team despite a strange first day.
“You want to get, bare minimum, up to the same as them,” Woakes said. “We still feel it’s a good batting surface.
“You want to get overs in the legs of the opposition bowlers and hopefully there’s a period where you can really cash in, build a big partnership with some of our middle-order players, and then runs down the order are key.
“Obviously we’re still looking to get ahead of them.”
England’s Test series vs West Indies
Watch the second day of the third Test between England and West Indies, from Edgbaston, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am on Saturday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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