Joe Root conceded that he could have declared earlier than he did as the Barbados Test ended in a draw with England five wickets from victory. Root declared at lunch after his side scored at a run a ball in the morning, setting West Indies 282 in 65 overs. Jack Leach took three wickets and Saqib Mahmood two but the man of the match, Kraigg Brathwaite, batted for another four hours — after his first innings of 489 balls — and shared stubborn stands with Jermaine Blackwood and Joshua Da Silva.
“We could have maybe been braver with it [the declaration] but it feels like a fast-scoring ground here. I thought they might have a go but it wasn’t the case. It did feel like a new-ball pitch, we needed to make inroads. We did but it wasn’t doing anything laterally for the seamers and it started to spin a lot slower, so that took Leachy out the game a bit.
“Maybe we could have pulled out ten overs earlier — 240 in 70 might be a big ask [to defend] on that wicket. It was pretty flat past the new ball. Would it have made much difference? Brathwaite played brilliantly and credit to West Indies for battling.”
Root was heartened by a number of performances, including Alex Lees blunting the new ball on the first day, Dan Lawrence’s batting in both innings and the bowling of Leach and Mahmood.
“It was frustrating not to get the win, but the way we played was a brilliant effort on a placid surface. The way we played in the first innings is what we need to replicate. If Dan keeps playing like that it won’t be long until he makes a really big hundred. One of the most pleasing things was how selfless he’s been. He’s always tried to put the team first. He’s done that twice — got us into a position where we got more overs at them than we thought we would.
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“Saqib bust the game open for us [on day five]. He created pressure and made things happen on a wicket where no seamer seemed like they would.
“It’s not a win, but it feels like another step forward. We backed up the attitude and energy from last week. The concentration and skill level was really impressive.”
England have won only once in 16 Tests but Root is confident that will change. “If we keep putting ourselves in positions like this and setting games up it won’t be long before we find ourselves winning a game or series.”
The England interim coach Paul Collingwood said: “I think the attitude from the boys was absolutely fantastic. Going into the last day I think everyone was expecting a high scoring draw but you could see by the attitude that everyone wanted to go out and win that game.
“To back the performance up in Antigua with this this week in many ways is even more impressive. We are getting closer to that win, if we continue with that same attitude and resilience and skill as well we will get close that win.
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“I thought our efforts to try and catch up and force the issue was exceptional. It shows where we are in mindset. The guys are going out there to try and win matches.
“It wasn’t to be but if we continue with that attitude it will be round the corner.”
