ENG vs WI: 1st Test – Talking points from second day’s play
After a rain-marred opening day, we witnessed quite a lot of action at the Rose Bowl, Southampton on the second day of the first Test match between England and West Indies. The pair of Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder picked all 10 English wickets to stop them at 204 all out after being 37/1 at the end of the first day. In response, the visitors began confidently and finished the day on 57/1 when bad light stopped play.
Gabriel dominates with pace
Shannon Gabriel continued from where he had left off on the opening day. He had castled Dominic Sibley and he repeated the treatment to Joe Denly. The number three batsman has been struggling with his issues of getting bowled quite often due to his faulty footwork. Denly continued making the same mistake.
Rory Burns was Gabriel’s next target who was trapped in front of the stumps while moving outside the off stump. The full-length delivery hit Burns’ front pad, however, the umpire was unconvinced. A successful review saw Gabriel celebrating his third consecutive wicket.
WICKET!
Excellent review from West Indies as Burns (30) is dismissed lbw – Gabriel has all three scalps ????????️
Captain Stokes is in at 51-3 ?
? Watch #ENGvWI live: https://t.co/BMwxc1qv7N
? Live over-by-over blog: https://t.co/0fihI9bQjg #raisethebat ?#️⃣ pic.twitter.com/zHi0qNesM1— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 9, 2020
Stokes plays the captain’s knock
Ben Stokes captaining England for the first time in his career, batted impressively. Although he was dropped twice, he remained firm at the crease and tackled West Indian bowling in his own way. Running out of his crease frequently, he tried upsetting the lengths of Kemar Roach and others. Ultimately, his counterpart had the better of him and sent him back after a steady knock of 43 runs.
Holder runs through the English line-up
World’s number one Test all-rounder proved why he is the top-ranked player in that category with his outstanding bowling spell. Holder first dismissed Zak Crawley LBW with another successful review. Next three dismissals were all caught behind as Shane Dowrich provided great assistance. Holder eventually finished with the figures of 6/42, his career-best, by bagging two more wickets from the lower order. At the other end, Gabriel picked his fourth to stop England at 204 all out.
HOLDER HAS 6⃣!
Career-best figures now for Holder in Tests as he has 6-34 with the wicket of Wood (5), edged to gully.
England 174-9 ???????? #raisethebat #️⃣
? Watch #ENGvWI live: https://t.co/BMwxc1qv7N
? Over-by-over blog ?— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 9, 2020
Reviews galore
West Indian openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell made a steady start against the skilful bowling attack of Jofra Archer and James Anderson. Anderson trapped Campbell twice in front of the stumps and gained a nod from the umpire as well. However, the batsman reviewed both the decisions and got a reprieve. He was not so lucky on the third occasion as the decision stayed with Anderson and the umpire. West Indies finished their day with Brathwaite and Shai Hope at the crease.
