Key events
8th over: West Indies 16-0 (Brathwaite 14, Louis 2) Louis’ wait for a run continues, half an hour into this match. Atkinson thuds the ball into his pads, but he can’t seize upon it. And then, finally, he gets some runs, punching off the back foot into the covers for two.
7th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 14, Louis 0) Woakes is still struggling to turn his movement into something more definitive, though he still nabs a maiden.
6th over: West Indies 14-0 (Brathwaite 14, Louis 0) Atkinson is growing into his spell, pitching the ball up and letting it dance, his line now attacking off stump … and just as I type that he goes too straight, allowing Brathwaite to flick down the leg side for four. Another ball on the pads gives Brathwaite an easy single.
5th over: West Indies 9-0 (Brathwaite 9, Louis 0) Woakes continues to find swing that beats Brathwaite’s bat. Ian Bishop wonders if he needs to go fuller to get the breakthrough. I reckon so.
Steve Pye writes in:
Although I am an England fan, I’d really like to see the West Indies battle hard for at least four sessions. They showed at Trent Bridge that the talent is there, and that should give them a bit of confidence looking to the future.
The fact that I have day four tickets has nothing to do with what I’ve just said above.
4th over: West Indies (Brathwaite 4, Louis 0) Atkinson is going a bit too straight at present, though Louis still can’t find himself a single, without a run after 13 deliveries. Make that 14: Atkinson decides to copy Woakes, unfurling a wonderful away swinger to square up the right-hander. A 15th dot for Louis follows.
3rd over: West Indies 4-0 (Brathwaite 4, Louis 0) Woakes delivers a maiden, offering a very different proposition to Atkinson at the other end. The senior bowler is arriving wide of the crease, hoping to bend it round corners. Atkinson is all straight lines and wobbling seam.
2nd over: West Indies 4-0 (Brathwaite 4, Louis 0) Close to calamity for West Indies. Louis wanted a single after diverting the ball down the leg side with his thigh; Brathwaite wasn’t having it. Louis was forced to turn back, and would’ve been walking back to the changing room if Jamie Smith’s throw had taken down the stumps. Louis survives. Three runs off Gus Atkinson’s opening over.
1st over: West Indies 1-0 (Brathwaite 1, Louis 0) Chris Woakes takes the new ball at his home ground, ready to examine Kraigg Brathwaite’s forward defence. The West Indies captain nabs a quick single off the opening ball, dropping it into the offside as Woakes goes a touch too short. An outswinger beats Mikyle Louis’s bat, and one jag backs in moments later, not far away from off stump. There’s some very decent swing on offer here; Woakes is in the game.
The players are out for the anthems. It looks a gorgeous day. Jealous of all those in the crowd.
To those asking, here’s an overseas link to listen to TMS.
The teams
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
West Indies have won the toss and will bat first
The sun’s out in Birmingham and Kraigg Brathwaite’s going to have a bat under it. The other good news for the visitors: Shamar Joseph remains in the XI.
Scott Oliver, the finest storyteller on club cricket, has done something on Sobers. Enjoy.
Some chat about Mark Wood potentially clocking 100mph. Always been kinda funny how the fastest recorded delivery, Shoaib Akhtar’s 100.2mph effort against England in 2003, was dealt with pretty calmly by Nick Knight.
Here’s some pre-match reading. First, Ali on how England are refining their Test game.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the third and final match of this Test series between England and West Indies. Yep, the main stuff is done: Jimmy’s testimonial, the direction of the Richards-Botham trophy, the arrivals of two very promising cricketers from Surrey. But this is still a Test match, at Edgbaston, and there’s nothing more tantalising than the opening morning of a five-dayer.
England are unchanged but West Indies have been forced into at least one: a Mark Wood thunderbolts in Nottingham fractured Kevin Sinclair’s forearm, bringing Gudakesh Motie’s left-arm tweak back into the mix. Shamar Joseph could be out with the flu which would be disappointing. He’s thoroughly watchable with both bat and ball.
Here’s my wish for the next few days: a proper game. Lord’s was one-sided and Trent Bridge had its moments, but West Indies’ fourth-day collapse ruined the fun. Let’s get to five. Pretty please.
I’ll be with you for the next few hours so please send in your thoughts, queries, song requests, favourite pizza toppings, what you’re reading at the moment, hopes, dreams, fears, whatever you fancy.
