WHILE West Indies Marlon Samuels (117) and skipper Darren Sammy (106) registered their Test career best scores, it was inspirational captain Andrew Strauss (141 and 46) and lion-hearted all-rounder Tim Bresnan (4 for 104, 4 for 10) who sparked England to a convincing nine-wicket victory in the Second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham yesterday. After three days, England held the advantage after West Indies conceded a 68-run lead and found themselves tottering at 61 for 6 wickets in their second innings.
On resumption yesterday, West Indies enjoyed a slim lead of three runs and only four wickets intact with two full days of play still available.
However, Sammy did not reproduce his first innings form nor did he stay around long enough with Samuels who remained undefeated on a classy 76 when West Indies second innings closed at 165.
Having been set a paltry 109 for victory on a perfect batting track; it was no surprise that the confident England team and their loyal supporters celebrate a comfortable Test and series victory over the visiting West Indies team.
England romped home victorious by nine wickets with more than a full day’s play to savour their series victory and prepare them for a clean sweep as they seek to maintain their number one Test ranking.
The Englishmen took a firm grip of the match on Saturday and strengthened it on Sunday after Strauss compiled his 21st Test hundred.
On Sunday, Strauss broke an eight-occasion jinx when he previously was only able to add less than six runs to an overnight century. The left-hander, unbeaten on 102 on Saturday, advanced his individual score to 141 while Bresnan scored an undefeated 39 as they rallied England to 428.
The Englishmen took the initiative away from West Indies and enjoyed a psychological 68-run lead after West Indies first innings had closed at 370 on Saturday.
Left-handed Strauss led from in front and registered a composed with a free-scoring century, his second consecutive of the series following his match-winning 122 at Lords. He was associated in an important 144-run third-wicket partnership with the belligerent Pietersen (80) whose positive attacking strokeplay left West Indies clueless as how to dislodge them as they sought to regain the advantage gained with a first-innings total of 370.
It was Strauss’ sixth century against West Indies and ninth as captain of the England team.
Strauss and Pietersen, both South Africa-born batsmen; survived a few close lbw appeals on the second day but assumed command through the afternoon session with fabulous strokeplay. Pietersen was severe on both skipper Sammy and off-spinner Shane Shillingford and it was pacer Ravi Rampaul (3 for 75 from 32 overs), the pick of the West Indian bowlers who prised him out on the third morning with only eight more runs added to his overnight 72.
With his 21st Test hundred, Strauss is now one short of the all-time leading England centurions’ record jointly held by Walter Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott on 22 centuries each.
Strauss moved ahead of Ken Barrington, Graham Gooch and Pietersen who are bracketed on 20 centuries each.
On reflection, West Indies were in a strong position at close on Friday. They mustered 302 for six with both Samuels and Sammy undefeated on 107 and 88 respectively.
However, they were guilty of not exercising the same patience and determination on Saturday morning and gifted their wickets away by playing bold, ambitious strokes and fell within one run of each other at 340 and 341. First to go was Sammy who registered his maiden Test hundred and was gone for a counterattacking 106 that included one six and seventeen fours off 156 balls while Samuels was dismissed for a composed 117 (16x4s off 261 balls).
As fate would have it, both Samuels and Sammy found themselves confronted with a similar situation in the second innings on Sunday afternoon. They were undefeated at the end of the third day’s play and given the opportunity to fight and put the West Indies team in a stronger position and an outside chance to beat the Englishmen or at least make them fight harder for victory.
Sammy (not out on zero) and was back in the pavilion after a 49-run partnership of while Samuels (17 overnight) was left stranded on 76 when West Indies innings ended at 165.
It was Bresnan, who repaid the selectors faith in him; when he ripped apart the West Indies middle-order and accounted for Darren Bravo (lbw 22), Denesh Ramdin (lbw 6) and Kirk Edwards (lbw 0) on the third afternoon.
Yesterday, it was Bresnan who removed Sammy, via the lbw route for 25; and finished with 4 for 37 to complement his first-innings haul of 4 for 104.
Strauss (141 and 46) and Samuels (117 and 76 not out) were also standout performers but it was not surprising that Bresnan earned himself the Man-of-the-Match award for his deadly accuracy and whole-hearted bowling efforts on a pluperfect batting track.
Bresnan finished with a match analysis of 8 for 141 plus the unbeaten 39 proved to be the main driving force for England’s first innings lead and eventual triumph within four-days.
He was well supported by speedsters James Anderson and Stuart Broad who snapped up the obdurate Chanderpaul (11), caught hooking to the backward square leg region where Jonathan Trott held the skied catch much to the delight of all the English team and their supporters on Sunday afternoon.
It was the crucial dismissal that paved the way for England to seal outright victory and ensured that the coveted Wisden Trophy remains in England.
Chanderpaul, promoted to bat at the number four position, changed his normally disciplined and cautious approach for an attacking style that caused his downfall and West Indies lower order suffered the jitters as the team, apart from Samuels lone heroic fight, never recovered.
Bowling spearhead Anderson started West Indies second innings slide with the removal of Adrian Barath (lbw for seven) and Kieran Powell (bowled for one). He finished with four for 43 with the additional scalps of Kemar Roach (lbw 14) and Ravi Rampaul (caught Bresnan 0).
While England won the First Test at Lord’s by five wickets, the number one-ranked Test team would have been gladdened when West Indies frontline batsmen played careless strokes and gifted their wickets away in both innings of this match.
In the first innings, West Indies were struggling at 64 for 4 before Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Samuels steadied the sinking ship with a defiant 61-run fifth-wicket stand.
Chanderpaul was adjudged lbw for 46 and the English hopes soared even higher when Bresnan’s quicker in-swinging delivery caught Denesh Ramdin on the back foot and too late in strokeplay as the ball cannoned unto the stumps.
At 136 for 6, West Indies were still in a shaky position but Sammy joined Samuels and together featured in new ground record unbroken sixth-wicket partnership worth 204 runs put together over the two-day period.
Samuels was seen talking to his captain and got him to eschew his naturally aggressive strokeplay for a much-more calculated assault on the Englishmen. Samuels got Sammy to temper his aggressive intent and both of them played a Chanderpaul-type innings- defiance punctuated with controlled aggression. That sensible approach brought forth their best Test scores and hopefully greater confidence for future battles.
Samuels registered his third Test century with a firm leg glance for four off Anderson and then counted his fourteenth boundary off an involuntary edge to the vacant deep third man position soon after he celebrated the coveted triple-figure mark – his first after four years in and out of the West Indies team.
That edged-boundary took Samuels past his two previous century-mark of 104 versus India at Eden Gardens in 2002 (First Test, 1st innings) and 105 versus South Africa at Kingsmead in 2008 (3rd Test, 2nd innings). The attractive Samuels produced a masterful display of sensible batting while Sammy crossed a major hurdle in his international career.
Momentarily, it would seem as if there would a total disaster when Samuels, on one; was ruled out lbw.
However, there was a great sense of relief for West Indians when he enjoyed a big slice of luck after he requested the TV review (DRS). He gained the reprieve with Hawkeye tracking system showing that the path of the ball would be riding the stumps. It was the kind of luck West Indies needed after being in such a perilous state even before lunch on the first day.
Their new record partnership eclipsed Trent Bridge’s all-time ground record previously held by West Indians Collie Smith and skipper John Goddard who posted 154 during the Third Test of the 1957 series.
The match was a drawn affair and it was Jamaican (Smith) and a West Indian captain (Goddard) who set the record in 1957. Comparatively it’s another Jamaican (Samuels) and a WI captain (Sammy) who bettered it. What a unique record!
Congratulations are in order for both Samuels and Sammy as they also bettered the overall West Indies best seventh wicket partnership against England which was held by Sir Garry Sobers (150 not out) and Bernard Julien (121) who together had shared 155 for the Rohan Kanhai-led West Indies team at Lord’s in 1973.
England have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series.
And while Englishmen would rejoice and savour another series triumph at home; West Indies selectors and captain Sammy need to rethink their strategies with the current batting line-up, especially the top order batsmen whose lack of fight and productivity has left the team overall success records in a most worrying state.
West Indies have registered only two victories – one each against Pakistan at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, and Bangladesh in Bangladesh – over the last four years.