Much to Saqib Mahmood’s amusement, his team-mates were already changed into their fielding whites when he walked out to bat. James Anderson’s replacement on this tour has no great batting pretensions either, but in partnership with Jack Leach he saved England from embarrassment on a bright and breezy day at the National Stadium after a top-order collapse on a pitch offering something for the bowlers for the first time in the series.
What kind of tour would it be without a batting collapse? After gorging themselves in benign conditions, the top- order batsmen were asked some rather tougher questions in Grenada and, predictably, they failed the test. But Mahmood made his highest first-class score and Leach’s unbeaten innings spanned more than half the day, as England fought their way back into the match impressively.
The total was not yet into three figures when the bespectacled Leach came to the crease, after a horrible post-lunch period in which three wickets fell in the space of ten balls for no runs. England’s hundred was acknowledged with ironic cheers by their support, and when Mahmood joined Leach the scoreboard read 114 for nine.
But the pitch, two-paced and uneven hitherto, eased a fraction as the ball softened and as Leach and Mahmood settled to their task. Leach is a redoubtable cricketer who works fiendishly hard on his batting with his fellow West Countryman, Marcus Trescothick, and, like Trescothick, his technique is simple and his movements economical. Of limited batting talent, his method is a match for his more vaunted colleagues.
Mahmood, whose previous highest first-class score was 34, took his cue from Leach. He grew in confidence and played some attractive shots, including the only six of the day, a heave into the leg side and into the stand named for two of Grenada’s most famous Test cricketers, Junior Murray and Rawl Lewis.
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The second new ball, a distant thought at one stage, was taken, but still the pair resisted until the last over of the day. England’s 200 raised a rather more full-throated cheer than earlier.
West Indies’ out-cricket had become ragged long before both batsmen were dropped, Leach badly at slip on ten in the 49th over — and England’s position was transformed from desperate to competitive, which is all they could have asked for from where they had found themselves in mid-afternoon. How far the pitch has flattened, and therefore how culpable England’s top order were, should become apparent on the second morning when West Indies bat.
At least, with a good contest between bat and ball and the see-sawing nature of proceedings, the day had a different feel to anything else we had witnessed in the series. There were also more locals than travelling English, which made for a pleasant change and with a carnival procession around the ground at lunchtime there was a Caribbean feel to it all. With an all-pace attack and English wickets tumbling, the action was more a throwback, too.
Kraigg Brathwaite put his faith in his seamers at the start, dropping his frontline spinner, and opted to bowl on winning the toss. There was enough movement to justify the decision, although one suspects the pitch will remain on the tricky side throughout.
We were back in familiar territory for the first half of the day. Bowlers struggle when the pitch is flat; batsmen, as they have showed all winter, when it is not. Joe Root has been carrying the batting line-up for too long and when he fails, as he is bound to do from time to time, there is always a nagging fear. Here he fell for a duck to the wobbling medium-pace of Kyle Mayers, the all-rounder brought into replace Veerasammy Permaul, who has a habit of getting good players out, seemingly innocuous though his bowling is.
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While Mayers was the surprise package, two young West Indies seamers, who had flogged themselves for two matches, finally found something a bit more to their liking. With Kemar Roach reaching veteran status, Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph are the future of West Indies bowling and, encouraged at last, they bowled sharply and looked dangerous until tiring later in the day.
After a quiet start Zak Crawley was the only casualty of the first hour, driving Mayers carelessly to short extra cover. The thought occurs that but for DRS — he overturned two early leg-before decisions when he made 121 in Antigua and 40 in Barbados — Crawley’s scores on this tour would be 8, 0, 0, 2, 7. Of course, it is right that he should not be a victim of poor umpiring but how many players of the past have had their careers shaped unduly by luck, both good and bad?
Mayers wobbles the ball around at very gentle pace and Brathwaite had set a trap that Crawley fell into needlessly. Initial signs were not promising when Mayers lost his run-up frequently in his first over, but once he settled he caused problems, finding movement in the air and off the pitch. Root became a second victim when he tickled a leg cutter behind, and when Mayers walked off feeling his hamstring he had taken two wickets for no runs in five overs.
This was a very different challenge for Dan Lawrence from the ones he had faced so far, where he had often been asked to push the pace in idyllic batting conditions. He is probably a place too high in the order at No 4, and on this occasion he never really settled, looked a little loose and reviewed badly when hit plumb in front by Seales. England lunched, three wickets down.
Then came the dramatic collapse, with Ben Stokes splicing an attempted pull straight back to Joseph, and Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow edging in defence. Lees had batted through the morning session, driving the occasional crisp boundary, but has always looked troubled by Roach’s angle and skill from round the wicket. Two balls before he was dismissed, West Indies were confident he had edged Roach to the wicket-keeper, but having burnt through two reviews in the opening hour, they had to be cautious. It transpired they didn’t have to be patient much longer.
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Ben Foakes and Chris Woakes fell in identical fashion either side of tea, gated by Seales, but not before Woakes had added 23 with Craig Overton, also bowled neck and crop by a sharp nip-backer, and 24 with Leach. The fielding became sloppy, with Leach dropped and Mahmood reprieved having offered a tougher chance in the 73rd over. After being dropped, Saqib smoked the next ball into the stands. His bowling suggested a cricketer of character in Barbados; his batting equally so here. He deserved a maiden half-century, but was bowled, looking for it, with the final ball of the day.