da brdice： A fourth-wicket stand of 246 gave West Indies control at Headingley, Shai Hope making an unbeaten 147 – his maiden Test hundred – on a memorable day for the visitors alongside Kraigg Brathwaite’s sixth Test century
da luck： The Report by Andrew McGlashan26-Aug-2017
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAt Edgbaston, two completed innings from West Indies mustered 305 runs and neither lasted even 50 overs. On the second day at Headingley, one West Indies partnership added 246 runs in 68 overs as Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope turned a promising revival with the ball into a full-blown resurgence.Brathwaite’s 134 was his sixth Test century, brought up from 189 balls with a six off Tom Westley in the final over before tea, while for Shai Hope – who took 159 deliveries – it was his first. After a lean start to his Test career, Hope’s century came three matches after his previous best of 90 and offered, dare we say, hope that the investment in him will bring long-term returns. The pair had come together inside the first hour of the day with West Indies 35 for 3 and the memories still fresh of the 19-wicket day last week.By the time England broke through, deep in the final session, when Broad burst through Brathwaite’s defence with the second new ball, West Indies were in the lead – the first time they had been ahead on first innings in England since Old Trafford in 2004 – and the partnership was West Indies’ biggest in England for more than 30 years, since Gordon Greenidge and Larry Gomes famously made David Gower regret his declaration at Lord’s in 1984.At the close, the lead stood at 71 with five wickets in hand. Ben Stokes had removed Roston Chase, edging a short delivery to first slip and there was the prospect of the fantastic work being undone. However, Jermaine Blackwood – whose idea of playing for the close was to continue to attack – ensured the day ended on a strong note. Hope’s unbeaten 147 was West Indies’ highest individual innings in England since Brian Lara’s 179 at The Oval in 1995.Until the new ball defeated him, Brathwaite’s 249-ball stay was a chanceless affair although he was twice grateful for DRS. On 34 he was given lbw to Broad but there had been an inside edge, while on 46 he was given the same way against Moeen Ali but was outside the line – one ball later he deposited Moeen into the stands for his fifty, the shot he would repeat a couple of hours later for the century.The team performance at Edgbaston brought much ridicule, but West Indies’ previous away Test had been a victory over Pakistan in Sharjah in which Brathwaite carried his bat for 142 in the first innings before marshalling the chase with an unbeaten 60 in the second.As the only member of the current squad with over 2000 Test runs, Brathwaite had already established his credentials at this level. The same could not said of Shai Hope who started this innings with an average under 20. However, he has been highly rated in the Caribbean since before his debut against England in 2015 and here that promise shone through.His fifty came from 72 balls with a strong straight drive against Chris Woakes and he came through Stokes’ attempts to unsettle him which included a hefty blow on the back of the helmet from a slippery bouncer. Ten minutes before tea, on 72, he flicked a delivery from Moeen to short leg but Mark Stoneman couldn’t cling on – it would have been an unfortunate way to go and West Indies’ effort deserved a few things to go their way.Whereas Brathwaite generally fed off short-of-a-length deliveries – of which England’s quicks offered up too many – Hope was eye-catching off the front foot (although his one-legged pull off Stokes to reach 99 was a reverse image of Lara). But for both the century-makers it was the early work in the morning session, when there was cloud cover and a new ball zipping around, that was most important to back up West Indies’ talk between matches that they had the batsmen to stand up to England in their conditions.England were off-colour with the ball; Broad struggled to consistently hit a full length (the sort that eventually dismissed Brathwaite) and after a promising first seven-over spell where he was unlucky not to pick up a wicket, Woakes looked more like a man making his way back into Test cricket after a lengthy lay-off.James Anderson was the pick of England’s bowlers and another bounty looked on the cards in the early forays of the day. He removed nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo in the fifth over of the day and then gave Kyle Hope another tough examination early in his Test career. A series of outswingers was followed by the inswinger, which brought the outside edge and Joe Root took a sharp catch at second slip. But for the rest of the day, Anderson remained stalled on 495 Test wickets, as did England’s hopes of forging a position from which they could take control of the match. That control, at least overnight, belonged to West Indies.
