“Bairstow the centurion on day 1 in Antigua”
The Riverside Sessions
Following England’s 4–0 drubbing at the hands of their old Ashes foes in Australia this winter it was a much changed Test Match team that took to the field today for the first day in a 3 Test series in the always beautiful West Indies. England had omitted their talismanic fast bowling partnership of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad from the touring party, retained Zak Crawley as an opening batting partner for the debutant Alex Lees and included returnees to an England Test cricket shirt in the shape(s) of Dan Lawrence, wicket keeper Ben Foakes and bowlers Craig Overton and Jack Leach. At a windy Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua that was approximately half full and 4/5ths of which were sun worshipping visitors from England and escaping the tail end of a cold and unwelcoming winter, the names may have changed from Australia a couple of months ago, but the same old problems persisted early on before Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow dug his team out of a rather large hole.
MORNING SESSION: England 57–4
England skipper Joe Root won the toss and decided to bat, no doubt hoping he wouldn’t be needed to wield his bat in anger before the lunch break. Sadly for the England captain he was in and indeed out even before the first hour’s drinks break with his side teetering on the brink at 27–3. His was the third wicket to fall after both opening batsmen before him were dismissed early on, with first debutant Alex Lees falling LBW (Leg Before Wicket) for just 4 runs to the ever impressive Kemar Roach and shortly after Zak Crawley fell to a brilliant diving catch from wicket keeper Joshua Da Silva off the bowling of Jayden Seales. Da Silva’s catch is already a candidate for “Catch of the Series” as Crawley got an inside edge past his stumps arrowing away from a despairing dive from Da Silva who scooped the catch just above the Antiguan grass.
The visitors limped to 39–3 at the first drinks break with Dan Lawrence looking particularly self assured, in control and top scoring at this stage of the England innings with 20 runs before he received a brilliant lifting delivery from the always impressive Jason Holder and edged a simple if high catch to Jermaine Blackwood at 3rd slip. Holder would finish the morning session with 5 consecutive maiden overs and thus 30 consecutive deliveries that were not scored from and taking the wicket of Lawrence in the process typified the dominance being exerted by the collective group of West Indian bowlers in this opening session of the day.
England edged their way to just 57 runs for the loss of 4 crucial wickets at lunch and after just 2 hours of play they already have their last 2 recognised batsmen at the crease with Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow both on 5 runs.
AFTERNOON SESSION: England 145–5 at Tea (Bairstow 35 not out)
England started the afternoon session in a rush of runs for both Stokes and Bairstow and by the drinks break they had pushed past a joint 50 run partnership and crucially had not lost their individual wickets in the process. In the first hour of play in this session the two English batsmen added 46 runs in a somewhat slapdash style at times and at others through pure controlled aggression, putting the West Indian bowlers onto the back foot and far more defensively minded than in the morning session.
All this changed mere minutes after the drinks break as Jayden Seales pegged back Ben Stokes leg stump with a beautiful “yorker” delivery that Stokes could only edge into his own stump. Stokes made a well played 36 runs but cut a disconsolate figure as he traipsed back toward the pavilion, throwing his head skyward as he did so. His partnership with Bairstow had passed 50 and together they had changed the momentum of the Test Match but England were 115–5 at the fall of Stokes’ wicket and the West Indian hosts were back in the driving seat at this point.
The final 40 minutes or so before the Tea break saw England add a further 30 runs to their overall total with new batsman Ben Foakes scoring the majority of these runs and mostly in boundaries in the process. Foakes finished at the Tea Break 21 not out (3 brilliant boundary 4’s and 1 streaky edge through the West Indian fielders in the slips) with his partner Jonny Bairstow “dropping anchor” and barely scoring but crucially playing well, stoically, and 35 not out.
STUMPS on Day 1: England 268–6 (Jonny Bairstow 109 not out)
The final session of the day belonged almost exclusively to the Yorkshireman Bairstow. Ben Foakes continued to play aggressively and score well as he added a further 21 runs before being dismissed LBW by Jason Holder. The West Indian fast bowler continued his impressive spell from the first session, finishing the day with 2 wickets for the cost of just 15 runs from 16 overs and was the day’s stand out star for the hosts. Chris Woakes again chipped in with valuable runs with the bat for England, ending the day on 24 not out, but the day truly belonged to Bairstow. His acceleration in the final session was in marked contrast to his circumspect batting and no nonsense defensive work throughout the afternoon session as he went from 35 not out at Tea to 109 not out at “stumps”. He passed both landmarks of 50 and 100 in the final session today, scoring 74 runs and impressively following up as the only English century maker in the recent Ashes series with Australia. He came to the wicket with England struggling and on the verge of yet another batting collapse with the score on 48–4 but over 200+ combined team runs later, he left the field to a standing ovation from the thousands of England fans ringing the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
From 12–1, 17–2, 27–3 and 48–4, England finished the day just ahead of their West Indian hosts and from an almost certain (and trademarked) “Calypso Collapso”, Jonny Bairstow’s brilliant innings ensured his team have their noses slightly in front after the opening day. Another 100 runs in tomorrow’s opening session could see England posting 350+ and an above par first innings total that could and should be competitive.
As it always seems to be, the morning session tomorrow is vitally important to both teams!
“Bairstow the centurion on day 1 in Antigua” can be found dancing between pages 184 through 188 and Chapter 1 of Part 2 in my 5 part opus to the grand old game of cricket and first self-published book on cricket entitled “Ashes to Ashes”.
Here are my collected pride and joy. All available via Amazon.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.