north sound: Mar 13 (IANS) Nkrumah Bonner and tall all-rounder Jason Holder managed to hold off the English bowlers at 38 and 37 unbeaten respectively as the West Indies thrashed the final day of the Opening Test to take the match to a draw at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday (IST).
England’s overnight batsmen Zak Crawley and Joe Root took to the field on Day 5 intent on forcing a result. A fast start to the day saw England add 132 in the morning session, with the Root skipper reaching his 24th Test century.
Soon an aggressive statement meant that the West Indies had just over two sessions to survive, with a target of 286 realistically out of reach.
Jack Leach took three wickets as England pressed hard in a docile field for the rest of the day, but a tough fifth-wicket position between Bonner and Holder removed the threat of defeat as the match ended in a draw.
England had resumed on 217/1 and immediately showed their intent when Crawley led the attack on the West Indian bowlers. A vicious Holder yorker made the job of Crawley after his fast start, who walked away with 121 to his name, but new batsman Dan Lawrence put his foot on the pedal early on.
England’s number four broke five limits, including a maximum, with his 37 stroke from just 36 balls as the lead increased at a rapid pace, with a statement in mind. At the other extreme, Root quietly reached the century mark, adding the 16 runs it took him to reach 24 hundreds in his test run and a significant one given his rise to number three in this series.
England’s aggressive approach with the bat saw wickets fall rapidly, with Lawrence (37), Root (109), Ben Stokes (13) and Ben Foakes (1) all sent back as five wickets fell in the space of 15 overs.
But 132 runs came from the aggressive approach, and the statement came 20 minutes before lunch with the score at 349/6, with Jonny Bairstow (15 NAS) and Chris Woakes (18 NAS) called back to the locker room.
England knew they would be without Mark Wood for the entire second inning due to his elbow injury, and immediately turned to Leach to lead the attack, with Woakes taking the new ball from the other end.
But wickets were hard to come by during the first test on a relatively easy-paced field at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with starters Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell emerging unscathed until lunch.
The starting pair seemed to have taken the sting out of the game as they went over 25-for-59 without losing, scoring at a pace that showed they knew a successful run was off the table.
However, two wickets in England’s two-overs game are a sniff, with Stokes catching Brathwaite lbw for 33 and Leach picking up his first wicket of the innings as he lured Campbell into a rare attacking shot that Craig Overton caught in the means, medium. Leach was the dangerous man for England, and he picked up two wickets in two overs when he had Sharmah Brooks caught on the slip and Jermaine Blackwood out lbw.
And with men around the bat and renowned hitters running around, the pressure was on the West Indies. But Bonner, the West Indies century-maker, slept next to Holder, and the chance of a positive result for England faded as the overs passed.
And, with only five of the day’s allotted deliveries remaining, Root opted to shake hands with the West Indies skipper at 147/4. Leach finished 3/57 from 30.1 overs, with Holder unbeaten on 37 of 101 submissions and Bonner not going out on 38 of 138 delivery.
The teams will play the second Test at the Kensington Oval in Barbados from March 16.
Short scores: England 311 and 349/6 decl (Zak Crawley 121, Joe Root 109, Dan Lawrence 37; Kemar Roach 2/53, Alzarri Joseph 3/78) tied with West Indies 375 and 147/4 (Kraigg Brathwaite 33, Nkrumah Bonner 38 not out, Jason Holder 37 not out; Jack Leach 3/57).