Twitter Reactions: Joshua Da Silva's fightback with tailenders put West Indies in command
In reply to England's 204 in the first innings, West Indies ended Day 2 at 232/8, having earned a lead of 28 runs.
The ongoing third Test match between West Indies and England is proceeding like a rollercoaster. In reply to the visitors’ 204 in the first innings, the Caribbean side ended Day 2 at 232/8, having earned a lead of 28 runs. Interestingly, both innings saw a batting-order collapse and a fightback from the tailenders. While Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood saved the blushes for England, there were multiple contributions from West Indies’ lower order.
The most significant knock came from wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva, who slammed a half-century and walked back unbeaten at stumps. Speaking of the entire day’s play, West Indies came out to bat and got off to a decent start with openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell adding 50 runs for the opening wicket. However, stellar spells from Chris Woakes and Craig Overton meant the hosts suffered a batting collapse.
Joshua Da Silva’s remarkable resilience spare West Indies’ blushes
As a result, West Indies lost six wickets inside 100 runs. However, Kyle Mayers joined forces with Da Silva and the duo engaged in the repair work. The duo looked solid for quite a while before Mayers fell prey to Ben Stokes at a personal score of 28. At 128/7, the hosts were in a great spot of bother. However, Da Silva didn’t put his guards down and he got substantial support from Alzarri Joseph and Kemar Roach.
The 23-year-old first stitched up a 49-run stand with Joseph (28), which took West Indies close to England’s total. He then found another potent partner in Roach as West Indies went past the visting team’s score. In the process, Da Silva also brought up his half-century. He and Roach remained unbeaten at the scores of 54 and 25 respectively as West Indies aim to get a substantial first-innings lead.
“Very special innings, was much needed for the team. The pitch has flattened out a lot, but the odd ball has kept low, not much spin on offer. It’s pretty up and down. We need to come out tomorrow and bat the same way, and put some runs on the board. Need to try and stretch the lead as far as we can,” said Da Silva after the end of day’s play.
Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitterati reacted to the day’s proceedings:
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