Late wickets leave third Test finely poised

Third Rothesay Test (day one of five), Edgbaston

West Indies 282: Brathwaite 61, Holder 59; Atkinson 4-67, Woakes 3-69

England: 38-3: Crawley 18; Seales 2-19, A Joseph 1-10

England trail by 244 runs

Scorecard

England lost openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett late in the evening session as they surrendered the initiative to reach 38-3 at stumps on day one of the third Test against West Indies.

Gus Atkinson had earlier taken four wickets as England’s bowlers rallied to snuff out a West Indies fightback and restrict them to 282, only for three late wickets to boost the tourists.

Crawley nicked off to Jayden Seales before Duckett inside edged Alzarri Joseph on to his own stumps the very next ball.

Nightwatcher Mark Wood was also caught in the slips off Seales (2-19) to leave Ollie Pope and Joe Root to navigate a tricky few overs before the close.

West Indies had earlier teetered precariously at 115-5 after they had won the toss, with Kraigg Brathwaite’s determined innings of 61 initially looking like nothing more than a sticking plaster at the top of the order, but they battled back.

After five wickets fell for 39 runs the momentum appeared to be with England as they sniffed the opportunity to bowl West Indies out cheaply inside two sessions.

Instead Jason Holder (59) and Joshua Da Silva (49) dug in and played with maturity as they guided West Indies towards something like a respectable first-innings total with a stand of 109.

Atkinson and Chris Woakes, who claimed three wickets, snuffed any hopes West Indies might have had of posting something more daunting.

After Brathwaite was strangled down the leg side by Wood, courtesy of a fine diving catch by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, England were in the ascendency.

Two balls later, Kavem Hodge – a centurion in the second Test - carelessly shouldered arms to a delivery from Woakes and saw his off-stump dislodged and the hosts eyed a quick finish to the West Indies innings.

Yet Ben Stokes and his bowling attack were not able to apply the coup de grace as quick as they would have liked, and instead of crumbling West Indies regained their composure and settled in.

Indeed such was the drifting, sometimes ponderous, nature of the contest after lunch newspapers were unfolded and crosswords completed with the cricket providing only ripples of excitement.

Stokes’ quest for wickets saw a fruitless bouncer barrage to no avail while Shoaib Bashir posed few threats, although there is the unerring sense the young spinner will have a key role later in the match.

Some inventive field placings from Stokes eventually gave him the breakthrough he needed, though, after West Indies had rebuilt to reach 224-5.

With a cadre of close catchers, and just one man in the cordon, Da Silva hung his bat out and feathered Woakes to Smith.

That set the wheels in motion for the Warwickshire man, on home turf, and Atkinson to complete the job as the next five wickets went down for 58 runs.

Holder’s dogged vigil was ended by a full quick delivery from Atkinson which he played around, with the England fast bowler also removing Gudakesh Motie with a vicious bouncer.

Atkinson's performance, and the manner in which he was able to contrive wickets in relatively unthreatening condition will particularly have pleased Stokes given he is a relative greenhorn to Test cricket.

More to follow.