The Third Test between England and the West Indies is finely poised after the hosts lost some late wickets at Edgbaston.
England lead the series 2-0 and are looking for a clean sweep against their Caribbean rivals but shook under some pressure late on Friday.
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The Windies batted first in Birmingham and set a score of 282, but it looked like it was going to be much less than that.
They sat at 115-5 after winning the toss and will have been regretting their decision, but for Kraigg Brathwaite to put up a resilient 61 in his innings.
England had all the momentum but Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva dug in to pull the West Indies back into the match.
It was a good day for Gus Atkinson who took four wickets, while Chris Woakes claimed three, ultimately restricting the Windies in what was possible with the bat.
And after a short break and a few overs of play before stumps on day one, England’s confidence slipped after losing openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.
An action-packed opening day to the Third Test 😊#ENGVWI #BBCCRICKET PIC.TWITTER.COM/AYD5B406KJ
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) JULY 26, 2024
Crawley went for 18 after nicking off to Jayden Seales, meanwhile Duckett was the victim of an inside edge from Alzarri Joseph’s ball, knocking down his own stumps.
Mark Wood also lost his strike after being caught by Seales at slip, meaning Ollie Pope and Joe Root had to wade through the remaining play.
Overall it was a mixed day for England and all the momentum will be with the Windies as they prepare to come out with a fire in their belly on Saturday.
Root had the highlight of the match, diving behind wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and diving towards the ball to remove Gudakesh Motie.
Joe Root what have you just done!? 😱🤯 PIC.TWITTER.COM/SZ5AZ5F7KY
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) JULY 26, 2024
Bowler Chris Woakes spoke after the match and admitted he didn’t feel at his best in the opener of the Third Test.
Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, he said: “I think at Lord’s I just struggled for a little bit of rhythm. I was searching for something and bowled a little bit safe and didn’t really utilise my skills as much.
“Into Trent Bridge, there was a spell towards the back end of the day on day two where something clicked, I used the crease a little bit more, the ball started moving in the air and just tried to use my skill a little bit more and I think I’ve just tried to run with that.
“And then the same here, the ball has moved a little bit in the air so I think using your crease is obviously quite crucial and trying to get obviously from mid-crease then out to wide as well and making sure the angles are different for the batsmen.
“Naturally when you’re the oldest bowler on the field, you kind of try and take more of a lead role and obviously you’ve got some younger bowlers out there. Obviously, Woody’s experienced as well so he’s doing his job.”
“I suppose a little bit of a different role, so to speak, but you know once you get out there and got the ball in hand, you’re effectively trying to do the same thing, which put the ball in the right areas more often than not, change the batsmen, try and work on their weaknesses and bowl to your strengths and yeah I’m just trying to do that really.”
