West Indies won by 4 wkts
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Shannon Gabriel
Batter
Bowler
West Indies 1 - 0 England: The West Indies have surprised us with their sustenance - there were things far greater than cricket driving them during this Test match.They must remember, however, that there is a series to win. For now, this is Rishi Roy, signing off from the comm. box, which is literally all over the place, on behalf of Ramki MS, Pradeep K, Akshay Maanay, Sagar Chawla, Praveen, and our concussion substitute, Abhinand Raghavendran. We'll be back on the 16th for the second Test at Old Trafford. Until then, cheerio!
There were several questions to be answered when the Test began. And yet, the West Indies' victory answered one that no one had bothered to ask. Saliva? Nope, sweat. There was far more seam than swing in this Test, and the clouds didn't get dark enough to help England - neither the myth about swing, nor the reality of rain, when England desperately needed it.
18:33 Local Time, 17:33 GMT, 23:03 IST: It's been an enthralling return to cricket. The rollercoaster that is Test cricket is back to its gripping self. Holder's spell in the first innings, Dowrich's intent in the second, a false dawn from the English top-order in the third followed by Gabriel's epiphany. The climax that this Test held had a decoy - the flat pitch - followed by a savage spell by Archer courtesy off-field banter, and the killer blow by Blackwood, giving Stokes a taste of his own medicine to get West Indies on the board in the Test Championship.
____________
Cricket without saliva (by a whining bowler, Ramakrishnan MS):
"Unlike the Ferraris in the Styrian Grand Prix, we've got some data on this new regulation. The bowlers did struggle a fair bit without the application of saliva because the ball wasn't moving much. It calls for interesting changes then. Maybe prepare surfaces that aid a bit more lateral movement. The one in Manchester is definitely expected to assist the pacers better. Should any other external application be allowed legally? Interestingly we did get some reverse swing in this game. We'll get to know better as cricket adapts."
____________
Stats brought to you by Deepu Narayanan
The last time WI won the first Test of an overseas series (excluding Zim/Ban/Afg)
Overall: vs SA Port Elizabeth 2007/08
in Eng: Edgbaston 2000
They ended up losing both the series.
- Since Ashes 2013/14 England have played 24 series of two+ Tests (including this one) and they have lost at least one Test in 22 of those. The only side that failed to beat England in a series in this period is Sri Lanka across two series and six Tests (2016 & 2018/19).
WI chasing 200 or fewer in fourth innings
Instances 61
Won 55 *
Draw 6
Lost 0
- The last English captain to lose his first Test in charge was Michael Vaughan in 2003.
Blackwood vs England in 4th innings
47* Bridgetown 2015 - coming in at 80/4, 112 away
41 Leeds 2017 - needing 76 runs
95 Southampton 2020 - coming in at 27/3 chasing 200
Shannon Gabriel | Man of the Match | 9/137: I wasn't doubtful about my fitness. I knew I would play. I knew the work that I put in would take care of itself. I am still a bit stiff, but there are a few days to recover for the next Test match. Based on their workload, the fast bowlers I mean, they should be able to come through, depending on the recovery. However, the guys are pretty fit for the series. The guys were confident coming here after the win in the Caribbean last year, and we knew if we prepared well, we would be able to perform.
Jason Holder | West Indies captain: One of our best victories. Yesterday was the best day I had in Test cricket. All the bowlers toiled hard yesterday, and it was a hard-fought day of Test cricket. I don't think any team knew. We had been sat at home doing nothing. We had time to prepare, but you never know. John took a blow today, but hopefully he will come through. We knew what was at stake yesterday evening. We knew we had 98 overs, and we had to go to 7PM. Alzarri and I thought we would bowl till 6:30 and the other two would take over. It would've been difficult to push for a win if we didn't bowl extremely well on a flat pitch. Blackwood was outstanding. Disappointing to see him get out on 95 but that's how he plays. Jermaine always tries and never short on effort, and today was his big moment.
Ben Stokes (2/2), on leaving out Broad: I don't regret leaving Stuart Broad out, and we are fortunate to leave someone like him out. I would be upset if he didn't show the passion he did in that interview, and he's nowhere near done. If he plays in the second Test I hope he walks off with some wickets. Pressure shows itself in different ways, and some hectic running goes on in the middle, and there are chances we didn't take. Lots of positives in retrospect, and a good learning curve this game. In terms of fitness, we had a long build up period, so it'll be interesting how everybody pulls up for the next Test. I've loved captaining England, but this is Joe's team and I welcome him back.
Ben Stokes (1/2), on his first Test as England captain: It's great that we've been able to play cricket. We are used to playing in front of a lot more people. It's been amazing to be involved in getting back into cricket, in terms of viewership. Both sides had a lot of time to build up with the camps. West Indies had a lot of time getting ready in Manchester. It was a hard fought Test. The skills and the level of cricket played was fantastic. You have to believe that 200 is enough, and if you don't, you're already losing. We should have got more runs in the first innings. We weren't ruthless enough to make our batting innings count, despite getting into good positions. I would still have batted first, because first innings runs count. If we made 400-500 runs, we really would have taken it away. But it has been a massive learning curve for the batting line-up and the young guys.
Presentations
____________
The second innings was a little topsy-turvy, with Sibley, Burns and Crawley regaining their mojo, despite some tight, skilful bowling by the West Indies. However the bowlers systematically broke the England innings down, before Gabriel ran through the lower and middle order to claim a five-for, setting the West Indies 200 - which looked historically unlikely, but West Indies, Holder's West Indies, lives in its own bubble, as they should be, particularly in these times - they came through, courtesy a defining 95 from Jermaine Blackwood to get West Indies their first points on the Test Championship table. Presentations coming up soon.