Da Silva, Joseph frustrate England with 71-run p'ship for 10th wicket

The tide in a Test match in England changes quite quickly. West Indies started Day 3 at Trent Bridge looking for a big lead. However, they suffered early blows, slumping to 386/9, still 30 runs behind England’s first innings total. 

There was cloud cover for the first time in the Test match. The ball nipped around with Chris Woakes bowling a marathon spell, snapping three wickets. In the first 15 overs in the day’s play, West Indies had scored 35/4. 

“Zak Crawley must be thinking about his batting,” said the commentator on air as West Indies were left with only one wicket. 

But, things changed when England were expecting to begin their second innings. The overnight batter, Joshua Da Silva, finally found some support from the number 11 batter, Shamar Joseph, and the duo forged a 71-run stand. West Indies not only neutralised England's efforts in the first innings, but built a 41-run lead.

The partnership started on the usual note with the recognized batter Da Silva trying to farm the strike. It was a fighting morning for the wicketkeeper-batter. Having scored freely yesterday (32* from 35 balls), Da Silva was beaten several times by Woakes. He was 44 off 71 balls when the ninth wicket fell. That is 12 runs from 36 balls on Day 3 with four wickets falling at the other end. 

Da Silva was understandably circumspect to hand over the strike to Joseph as Woakes continued the hunt for his fifth wicket. With the field spread, the scoreboard came to a standstill. 

The right-hander needed to play some brave strokes, with the tide against the Windies. After only two runs in two overs with Joseph at the other end, Da Silva opened up by tonking Mark Wood over extra cover for a six that also brought up his half-century. However, that six came off the last ball of the over, which put Joseph at the striker’s end for a complete over against Woakes. 

Joseph showed he has Da Silva’s back by not only seeing through the over but also cracking a boundary over Ben Stokes at mid-off. That boundary brought an end to Woakes’ spell. It opened the gates for both batters. 

A six from Da Silva in the next over was followed by another boundary from Joseph as West Indies inched closer to England’s total. But the real fun started in the 107th over, after a maiden from Wood. 

Gus Atkinson wanted to check Joseph’s efficiency against short-pitched bowling and the Guyana-born opted to fight fire with fire. He pulled Atkinson twice into the stands in three balls. The first six leveled the scores and the second was a statement, that took some tiles off the roof of a concrete structure stand. Another boundary followed, this time a miscued pull over the wicketkeeper’s head for a four. In no time, the duo had added 36 runs, with Jospeh scoring 25 off 18 balls. 

Da Silva started to trust Joseph with the strike. The tide was turning again. After Woakes, Joseph had taken Atkinson out of the attack too. 

The play extended for half an hour given West Indies had one wicket left. England turned to their spinners with the off-spinners Shoaib Bashir and Joe Root bowling in tandem. 

In Root’s second over, Da Silva carted four boundaries in a row — three fours and a six. 

Each boundary frustrated England until Wood returned and ended the fun. Joseph clipped one off the leading edge straight to mid-on. As the ball descended into Atkinson’s hands, Da Silva went onto his haunches, unbeaten on 82 off 122 balls in a brave innings which should have ended with his second Test hundred - second against England and first outside home. 

Yet, he must be satisfied to have put the Windies ahead in the first innings, even if so by only 41 runs. And Joseph has definitely earned a promotion in the batting order.

The 71-run stand is the fifth-highest 10th wicket stand for West Indies in Tests, and the second-highest for them away from home, after Tino Best and Denesh Ramdin put on 143 at Edgbaston in 2012. 

457 is West Indies’ highest team total in England since 692/8d at the Oval in 1995. Surprisingly, this is West Indies’ first 450+ total in all Tests since 2014. 

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