By Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport at Edgbaston
England took 19 wickets on the third day to beat West Indies by an innings and 209 runs in the day-night Test at Edgbaston. West Indies, 44-1 overnight in reply to England’s 514-8 declared, were bowled out for 168 and 137.
James Anderson took 3-34 in the first innings and Stuart Broad 3-34 in the second to move above Sir Ian Botham into second on the list of England’s all-time leading Test wicket-takers. England take the lead in the three-match series, with the second Test beginning at Headingley on Friday.
That and the final match at Lord’s will revert to traditional playing hours after this contest was held under lights to help England prepare for the Ashes.
While they have been given experience of playing with the pink ball, a poor West Indies side do not look likely to provide any sort of examination before the tour of Australia.
Off the field, the staging of the floodlit game can be seen as a success – the three days that have seen play were close to a sell-out – but the contest was not befitting of the historic occasion.
England learn little by thrashing woeful Windies
England captain Joe Root said before this match that it was an opportunity for some members of his top order to earn a place on the Ashes tour. However, the home side batted only once, meaning Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley, who both made only eight, must wait for the second Test for another chance to impress.
Dawid Malan registered his highest Test score, but 65 is unlikely to be enough to guarantee his place on the plane. As for West Indies, who have not won a Test in the UK for 17 years, their capitulation resulted in the Test being even more one-sided than was feared beforehand.
Although the cloudy sky made bowling conditions favourable, England often had to do little more than find a full length and wait for the visiting batsmen to miss, play across the line or edge the ball. Eight West Indies batsmen were out twice on Saturday, and in all they scored 219 runs for the fall of those 19 wickets – the most they have lost on a single day of Test cricket.
Anderson leads early rush
Anderson took the only wicket on Friday and had a hand in each dismissal as West Indies lost 3-3 when play resumed on Saturday.
Kyle Hope fended a rising delivery to gully and Roston Chase played on either side of Kieran Powell being run out by Anderson’s direct hit from mid-on.West Indies were without the technique, application or patience to survive, so Jermaine Blackwood chanced his arm to hit an unbeaten 79 from 76 balls.
At the other end, Toby Roland-Jones’ full length accounted for Shai Hope and Shane Dowrich, Moeen Ali had Jason Holder caught behind and Stuart Broad also went full to dismiss both Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph.
When Tom Westley produced another direct hit to run out Miguel Cummins – the batsman was not even close to making his ground – it typified the hopelessness of the West Indies’ effort.
Windies fold again
With a lead of 346 and, after bowling 47 overs, England enforced the follow-on, with West Indies’ only real goal to drag the match into a fourth day. Instead, they lasted for just another 45.4 overs.
Kraigg Brathwaite, the sole West Indies player not to bat twice in the day, made 40 but, after he and Blackwood were removed, a three-day finish was inevitable.
Both fell to off-spinner Moeen, Brathwaite lbw on review and Blackwood stumped by some distance after an inexplicable charge down the track. Broad, once more bowling full and straight, got to work on the lower order, at one point taking 3-4 in 11 balls to reach 384 Test wickets, one ahead of Botham.
Chase was lbw, Dowrich bowled and Holder caught at first slip for a golden duck. Anderson returned to clatter an inswinger into the stumps of Roach before Roland-Jones had Joseph held by Ben Stokes at third slip to end the match under a night sky and to the soundtrack of a raucous Hollies Stand.
The stats you may have missed
- Victory was England’s third biggest innings victory over West Indies
- This was the first time West Indies had lost 19 wickets in a day; the previous highest was 18 against England at The Oval in 1933
- With his third wicket, Stuart Broad moved past Sir Ian Botham’s tally of 383 Test wickets into second place on England’s all-time list; only James Anderson is above him
- Broad is now 15th in the all-time list of Test wicket-takers for any country
- It is the first time that England’s two leading wicket-takers have played in the same match since Fred Trueman and Brian Statham in 1963
- England have enforced the follow-on eight times in the past 12 games in which they have the opportunity
- Jimmy Anderson has 39 wickets at Edgbaston and is now joint highest wicket taker with Fred Trueman.
