England vs West Indies Day 4: England extends lead to 136 at the stumps of Day 4
Four days in Barbados has seen 958 runs scored, with fall of only 19 wickets. and the pitch hasn’t deteriorated like Antigua. The Caribbeans were behind the visitors by 219 runs at the stumps of the third day. English bowlers bowled out West Indies team for 411 runs and trailed by 96 runs. England openers extended the lead at 136 by the end of the fourth day.
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk West Indians huddle ahead of the crucial dayCaptain Kraigg Brathwaites’ 160 stellar performance
Day 4 began with Kraigg Brathwaite and Alzarri Joseph resuming play for West Indies. However, Alzarri Joseph got dismissed early. Kraigg Brathwaite then built another two major partnerships with Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva stitching 15 runs off 91 balls and 34 runs off 105 balls respectively. Though the duos attempted to stay longer on the crease but couldn’t capitalize much in terms of runs scored. Kraigg Brathwaite stuck around for a play of over more than 11-and-a-half hours to attempt a marathon of 160 runs in 489 deliveries. The openers' innings played a major role in dragging West Indies to 411 and being trailed by 96 runs at the end of the first innings. And for England, Jack Leach had to bowl 419 deliveries to strike three wickets, which also saw the rock-solid wicket stand of Kraigg Brathwaite.
The first innings of both teams saw quite similar batting patterns, as both of their captains (Joe Root, Kraigg Brathwaite) and vice-captain (Ben Stokes, Jermaine Blackwood) scored centuries for their teams. Both the skippers fetched 150+ scores, and left-arm spinner (West Indies: Veerasammy Permaul, England: Jack Leech) took three wickets.
England’s second inning's
The penultimate evening saw English openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees starting the second innings. With 90 balls remaining to play before the stumps, they expanded the lead from 96 to 136 runs. Alex Lees and Zak Crawley remained not out at 18 and 21 respectively till the bad light stopped the play.
Another dull stalemate of a test or dramatic twist awaits?