A Wonderful Return of Cricket!

Tags: West Indies tour of England, 2020, England, West Indies, England vs West Indies, 1st Test at London, Jul 08-12, 2020, Shannon Terry Gabriel

Published on: Jul 13, 2020

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

So cricket resumed after 3 months, and we couldn’t have asked for a better return. An enthralling game of cricket, where we did not know who the winner, even in the last session of day 5. It’s games like these which prove that test match cricket is still the best format of the game. West Indies came to this match as the underdogs, as England are nearly invincible at home. Especially when a bowling attack comprises of players like Anderson, Archer, Wood and if someone like Broad can’t even find a place in it, then you know it’s a serious bowling line up.

.England vs West Indies, 1st Test: Windies' quicks strike as ...

Shanon Gabriel was adjudged Man of the Match for his 9 wickets

It was the West Indies bowlers who set up the match in the first innings only by bowling them out cheaply for 204. They were ably led by their captain, Jason Holder, who claimed his career best figures of 6-42. Then it was their batsmen’s turn to consolidate their position in the match by getting ahead of England’s score by 114 runs, thanks to handy contributions from Brathwaite, Chase and Dowrich. Like Holder, Stokes also led from the front by picking up 4 wickets. In their second essay, the English batters, especially Burns, Sibley and Crawley showed a lot more resolute effort and intent to get ahead in the game. Just when it seemed

they were gaining control of the match, Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph hit back late on day 4 with a flurry of wickets to level their position in the match. On the last day, a gettable of 200 was in front of the West Indies with almost the whole day remaining. But having been reduced to 27-3 (effectively 27-4 with Campbell retired hurt), the target seemed like a distant one. But Roston Chase and Jermaine Blackwood had other ideas. They applied themselves slowly started to take the game away from the hosts. Although Blackwood threw his wicket away on 95, he had done his job with only 11 runs remaining to win the match, and Campbell came back to do the formalities.

So, all in all a great game of cricket, a wonderful return of the game, a nail-biting one for the spectators at home, hopefully one of many more to come.

Related News