Against England in the second session of the third Test at Edgbaston, Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva spearheaded the West Indies’ comeback after the visitors were badly damaged by early wickets on each side of lunch, including half-centurion Kraigg Brathwaite.
Holder was hitting 42 and Da Silva was hitting 35 during their uninterrupted 79-run partnership that lifted the West Indies to 194/5 at Tea on Day 1.
The well-established Brathwaite and Kavem Hodge fell in rapid succession, adding to West Indies’ problems after they had lost wickets quickly before the lunch break. Before glovedly sending a brief delivery down the leg-side to the ‘keeper,’ Brathwaite appeared to be in good form. Misjudgment and a clever bit of setup by Chris Woakes befell Kavem Hodge. After moving the ball away from the batter in his previous over, Woakes delivered a straight over that saw Hodge hit by the shoulder arms for thirteen runs.
With the middle order having a lot of heavy lifting to do, West Indies have fallen from 76/0 to 115/5. England dropped a few reviews as Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva settled in with a cautious pairing. When Shoaib Bashir was eventually brought into the attack in the 44th over, Da Silva welcomed him with a boundary past midwicket. The batter attacked the spinner, hitting a four and a six off consecutive deliveries, as well as another boundary in Bashir’s next over, after Holder’s paddle shot put up a half-century stand for the sixth wicket. To avoid defeat going into the interval, they also managed to negotiate an over from Wood, who bowled short deliveries.
Following the West Indies’ decision to bat earlier in the first session, Woakes and Gus Atkinson attempted to gain an advantage by keeping their lengths full of the West Indies openers, even going past the bat on a few times. Nevertheless, Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis managed to block it and withstand a barrage of short balls from Ben Stokes and Wood, allowing them to survive the opening hour unscathed.
The first team, although not fully in control of some of their shots, managed frequent boundaries and recorded their third consecutive fifty-plus stand. However, their relationship ended when Atkinson persuaded Louis to go to the keeper and dismiss him for 26.
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Kirk McKenzie got things rolling by hitting three boundaries in one over off of Atkinson, showing great confidence in his cover driving and cutting. However, a quick delivery from Wood ended his fast innings as it swung in, evading his blockers and uprooting the middle stump. After Alick Athanaze inside-edged a draw off Atkinson against the stumps, he fell off the final ball before lunch.
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