Captain Jason Holder, arguably the finest West Indies all-rounder since the great days, claimed his first wicket haul against England and his seventh overall five-wicket haul in Tests as he wreaked havoc in Southampton.
Not only that, but the Windies skipper also attained his second Test 6-for and, as of now, his best Test figures to bundle out England at 204 runs on Day 2 of the first Test at Ageas Bowl on Thursday. Jason’s six-wickets haul is now also the best figures by a West Indian captain against England.
Senior paceman Shanon Gabriel opened the bowling attack for West Indies after a short delay from Lunch due to the slight drizzle.
In the last ball of the 47th over, Stokes got a life after Shamarh Brooks dropped an easy catch, fielding at the covers. Post that dropped chance, Windies started to lose grip on the hosts and continued to leak runs.
It seemed that the bowling attack started to lose their line and length, which helped Buttler and Stokes to counter-attack the bowlers and unsettle them.
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In quick time, the dangerous-looking batting duo of Stokes and Buttler played a mix of delightful and defensive strokes to slowly put the pressure on the visitors by getting the 50-run stand.
It was finally in the 54th over, skipper Holder finally managed to get the better of Stokes (43 runs off 97 balls), who knicked the ball behind to keeper Dowrich. Interestingly, Stokes had been dropped twice in this session before finally getting 'caught out'.
Captain Holder took out captain Stokes to break the strong 67-run putting the hosts in a spot of bother and then entered Dom Bess with the scoreboard reading 154/6 after 54 overs.
Skipper Holder continued to cause havoc in Southampton. The dynamic duo - Holder bowling-Dowrich wicketkeeping - accounted for another wicket. This time, it was the dangerous Buttler (35 runs) who was stunned by the beautiful delivery from the skipper. Buttler's wicket left England struggling at 157/7 after 56 overs.
Captain Holder, the underrated Windies all-rounder, picked his 5th wicket by getting Jofra Archer out for a Duck as the Windies again used a review to overturn an on-field Umpire's decision.
A few deliveries later, Holder attained his career-best figures in Tests (6-34) with the wicket of Wood (5), edged to gully. With 9 down, England somehow managed to reach the 200-run mark in the last ball of the 67th over. Gabriel departed Anderson (10) to help Windies bowl out the hosts for 204 runs.
In the previous session, Shanon Gabriel and Jason Holder started the second day of the first Test on a high as they managed to send back half of the English team to pavilion for 106/5 after 43 overs at Lunch.
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