Windies crush England in three days

May 04, 2015 Sports

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First win against the Brits since 2009

By Sean Devers in Barbados
In association with Carib Beer & Noble House Seafoods

Barbados is littered with fabulous Beaches and while many of the English fans arrived at the Kensington Oval late on a sunny morning yesterday in order to sample the white sands and blue water, the locals, anticipating something special, turned up to create the biggest home support of the match and they were not disappointed.

On a third day track which offered turn for the spinners out of the rough, England resumed the third day of the third and final Test against West Indies on 39-5 and fell for 123 leaving the host to get 192 for a series leveling win.
Jerome Taylor (3-33), Jason Holder (3-15) and Veerasammy Permaul (3-43) were the wicket-takers for the hosts, who reached 194-5 to win by five wickets in three days.
Fabulous batting from 26-year-old Daren Bravo, who returned to fine form with a classy 82 from 215 minutes, 148 balls with seven fours and three sixes. He shared in a 108-run fifth wicket stand with Jermaine Blackwood, who ended the game with a six and finished 47 not out.
The Jamaican followed up his 85 in the first innings by hitting four fours and a six from 147 minutes and 104 balls in his second innings knock to take the Man-of-the-Match award.
Their partnership was the highlight of the day after the pair came together at 80-4 when Shiv Chanderpaul was bowled by James Anderson for a duck.
This was West Indies’ first win against England since February 2009 when they won the first Test in Jamaica by an innings and 23 runs. It was also their first win against the Brits at this venue in 25 years and their first win here since they beat Zimbabwe in 2012.
Earlier, England reached their 50 in 25.3 overs with a neat flick off Taylor by Ben Stokes, who slammed one back past the bowler in the same over for the same result.  An ungainly pull to one that kept low by Gary Ballance off Marlon Samuels somehow reached the boundary as the visitors compiled important runs.
Permaul struck which his second ball of the day when he removed the dangerous Ballance, caught at slip for 23 at 62-6. Joe Butler joined Stokes before a crowd which included a lot more ‘locals’ than the previous two days.
The pair fought hard as Taylor, the West Indies’ best bowler, was switched to Malcolm Marshall end and Stokes survived a confident caught behind appeal after Stokes was given out, only for the verdict to be overturned by TV replays.
Permaul, in his fifth Test, was hit for six by Butler in a pressure-filled season in which the English, urged on their several thousand adoring fans, battled doggedly to deny the West Indies of leveling the series.
Stokes reverse swept Permaul for four and cut him for a triple while a sweep for three by Butler in the same over brought up the 150 lead and all of a sudden England were wriggling out of the vice-like West Indies grip.
Stokes took another boundary off Permaul and the tourists were beginning to wrest back the advantage in the sea-saw contest at 90-6 and the lead 158 after the first hour.
Permaul was stroked for four through cover by Stokes but the Guyanese combination accounted for him next ball when Chanderpaul held a good diving catch at extra cover to break the 33-run partnership and send the left-hander packing for 32. It was a carless shot and England had again lost the ascendency as they slipped to 97-7.

Barbadian Holder had his former school mate Ray Jordon, who attended the Charles F. Broome Primary, which also produced Olympic sprinter Obadele Thompson, LBW for two at 98-8. Holder then knocked out Chris Broad’s stumps first ball, but Anderson averted the hat-trick.
Butler smashed Permaul for consecutive boundaries to bring up the 100 in the 40th over before hammering Holder majestically to the cover boundary.
Permaul was replaced by Shannon Gabriel 20 minutes before Lunch and Butler stroked him for four and clobbered him for six, before Taylor removed Anderson (2).
Butler was left unbeaten on 35 with four fours and two sixes and shared in a 25-run last wicket stand with Anderson, who took the Man-of-the-series award.
Memories of the second Test at Lords in 2000 between these two sides resurfaced. West Indies were bowled out for 54 in their innings and set England 192 to win. England eventually scraped to a two-wicket win. The big question was could the West Indies reverse that result?
By Lunch, West Indies were 4-0 from one over and in the second session Shai Hope climbed on his toes and punched Anderson gloriously to the cover boundary before being dropped off Broad at slip on four to keep hope alive.
Watched by a crowd which had built up to capacity, Kraigg Braithwaite, who came off the mark with a text book straight drive for four and fellow Bajan Hope built a firm platform against some testing fast bowling.
And an epic fight was brewing although not in the same magnitude of the Mayweather, Pacquiao ‘fight of the century’ which Mayweather won by a unanimous decision Saturday night in Las Vegas.     Braithwaite delightfully on-drove Broad for four while Hope (9) survived a confident LBW ‘shout’ off Jordon at 29-0 before Jordon removed him at 35-1.
Without addition to the score Moeen Ail had Braithwaite (25), well caught by Jordon at slip as Bravo and Marlon Samuels joined forces in an atmosphere that was absolutely fantastic. The fans produced a Kaleidoscope of color and many flags fluttered merrily in a cool breezy that blew across Kensington as Music emanated from massive speakers in the Party Stand.
With Tea 10 minutes away, Samuels (20) got one that cut back and kept low from Broad and was bowled at 70-3. By Tea the West Indies had progressed slowly to 70-3 with victory 122 runs away after the last six overs bowled before the break were consecutive maidens.
The first ball after Tea from Root was dumped for six by Bravo, who played a sumptuous cover drive for four two balls later. Chanderpaul, who joined Bravo, began this innings needing 82 to surpass Brain Lara’s record of 11,953 Test runs by a West Indian from 131 Tests.
But the 40-year-old in his 164th Test, played an indecisive shot and was comprehensively bowled for his 16th duck by Anderson in what surly must be his last test innings at Kensington, to leave the West Indies on 80-4. This was his second consecutive Test series in which he scored less than 100 runs after managing just 91 in the three Tests in South Africa.
Scores: West Indies 189 (Blackwood 85, Anderson 6-42) and 194 for 5 (Bravo 82, Blackwood 47*) beat England 257 (Cook 105, Moeen 58) and 123 (Holder 3-15, Taylor 3-33, Permaul 3-43) by five wickets.

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