England v West Indies, 1st Test, Day 2: 5 Talking Points

The 2nd day of the 1st Test match between England and the West Indies saw the Englishmen put a mammoth total of 514 runs on the board at the cost of 8 wickets. Considering England’s first day total of 348 runs for the loss of just 3 wickets, the West Indian bowlers made a pretty good comeback on the second day. Former English skipper Alastair Cook went on to complete his double century but fell a few short of the 250 run mark.

The West Indians had a shaky start to their batting as they lost right handed opener Kraigg Brathwaite for a duck. He was picked up by the experienced James Anderson. The visitors ended the day’s play with a score of 44 runs for the loss of 1 wicket with Keiran Powell and Kyle Hope on the crease. Here are the 5 talking points of Day 2 which summed up the action:

Alastair Cook’s double ton:

The left handed genius continued his stellar form from the first day’s play as he came out to bat with Dawid Malan on day 2. Cook went onto reach the 4th double century of his career with some brilliant display of composure and strokeplay. His inning was the anchor point in the England batting performance as it guided the team to a gigantic total of 514, along with effective contributions from Joe Root and Dawid Malan.

Cook fell just 7 runs short of the 250 run mark (243), but it is a welcome sight for England to see the established Test cricketer storm his way back to form. Cook faced a whopping 407 deliveries in the process which included 33 boundaries. The batsman had already surpassed the legendary Graham Gooch as the Englishman with most runs in England and now he slowly crawls towards Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most Test runs.

Dawid Malan’s inning:

Dawid Malan‘s inning was an absolutely crucial one for the team. The batsman played a gutsy knock of 65 runs facing 139 deliveries which consisted of 10 boundaries. The importance of Malan’s inning was immense as he managed to form a formidable partnership with Alastair Cook which did not allow the West Indians to capitalize on the wicket of Joe Root. Malan came into the scenario when England stood at 287/3, but Malan’s 162 run stand with the former English skipper took the team’s score to 449 before Malan lost his wicket to Roston Chase. With an experience of 3 Test caps, this was Malan’s highest score in the format and also his first 50.

Roston Chase’s bowling:

While Kemar Roach stole the show with the ball on the first day’s play, it was Roston Chase who rose to the occasion on the second day. Roston Chase went without a wicket on Day 1 but he picked up some massive ones the next day. Starting with the wicket of Dawid Malan, which broke the crucial 162 run partnership between Malan and Cook, Roston Chase drew first blood in the match. He quickly followed it by earning himself the wicket of danger man Ben Stokes for a mere score of 10 runs.

His third wicket came in the name of Moeen Ali who contributed effectively with the bat in the South Africa series. And he got his final bite of the cherry in the form of Alastair Cook which was his most important wicket of the day. He ended Cook’s staggering knock of 243 runs just short of the 250 run mark which forced Joe Root to declare. Roston Chase finished his spell at 4/113 in 26.2 overs.

Kieran Powell and Kyle Hope partnership:

The West Indians suffered an early setback as James Anderson picked up right handed opener Kraigg Brathwaite for a duck. However, Kieran Powell and Kyle Hope showed immense maturity and character to survive the rest of the day’s play. Both the batsmen did a brilliant job to not lose a wicket in the last hour of play as they stood at the crease for 13 overs. West Indies ended the day’s play with 44 runs on the board at the loss of a solitary wicket.

Kieran Powell remained unbeaten on 18 hitting 2 boundaries while Kyle hope earned 25 runs for himself with his share of 4 boundaries. Both of the batsmen faced 44 balls each before the umpire signaled for stumps.

James Anderson bowling:

England managed to pick up only one wicket in 16 overs on the second day and it was none other than James Anderson. England’s most successful bowler ever picked up the solitary wicket in the name of Kraigg Brathwaite whom he dismissed for a duck. Anderson who got the Pavilion End at Old Trafford named after him as the ‘James Anderson End’ put England on the driver’s seat as he handed the team their first wicket without the visitors putting up a single run on the board.

Anderson was highly economical in his spell of 8 overs in which he just conceded 17 runs at an economy rate of 2.13. The wicket now leaves James Anderson just 12 wickets short of the 500 wicket mark.