England vs. West Indies, Second Test: Day One Review

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Matt H in Tests

West Indies 304/6 (Samuels 107*, Sammy 88*, Anderson 2/56)

In a word

Bipolar

In a sentence

After a top-order collapse, a record-breaking stand rescued the day for West Indies.

Player of the day

After winning the toss and being 63/4 it looked very much like the West Indies were going to be suffering all day and that England might bat before stumps, if not much sooner. But Marlon Samuels played a refined innings, the sort that he has promised to deliver on occasion but rarely delivered, and was able to steer his team towards a semi-respectable total in the middle of the afternoon. Even so, in the hour before tea they lost two quick wickets, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul – thanks to DRS overturning a rejected appeal for LBW from Graeme Swann – and the hopeless Denesh Ramdin; 154/6 looked rather inadequate with the English bowlers prowling. Notwithstanding this, Darren Sammy batted with a mix of flamboyant drives, thumping leg-side heaves, fortunate edges and lucky misses and together they seized the match back from England. To finish the day on 304/6, with one man making his third Test century and the other not far off his first, was a remarkable turnaround and resulted in some exasperated English bowlers. The unbroken partnership is already the highest for the seventh wicket in a Test at this ground, as well as for the West Indies versus England.

Moment of the day

As tempting as it is to say the moment when Chanderpaul played a Stuart Broad delivery with his groin, the day hinged on the third ball that Samuels faced. The delivery from Bresnan struck high on the pad and following an enthusiastic appeal, Asad Rauf raised his finger. However Samuels – at the time 1* – referred the decision upstairs and HawkEye clearly showed that the decision was indeed a howler. Just 106 runs later he is still there.

Outlook for tomorrow

All agree that the first day was a very good day of cricket, played out under clear blue Trent Bridge skies. More of the same tomorrow will set up the game nicely: from an English perspective, there will be hope that a night’s rest will enable the bowlers to strike early and clear the tail; on the other hand Sammy may never have such a good chance to score a Test century again and if they can see off the 10-overs old ball, then 400 might be achievable.