‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’
Brathwaite bemoans lack of discipline in batting, bowling units after England sweep Windies
BIRMINGHAM, England — West Indies were condemned to a 3-0 sweep against England in the Richards-Botham Trophy Series after tearaway fast bowler Mark Wood blew away the bottom half of their batting and set up the hosts for a 10-wicket win in the third and final Test on Sunday.
Opener Mikyle Louis hit the top score of 57 for the Caribbean side and Kavem Hodge supported with 55, but a devastating spell from Wood after lunch sent the visitors crashing to 175 all out in their second innings about an hour after the interval on the third day of the match at Edgbaston.
“For sure, looking back, I thought the 282 we got in the first innings wasn’t enough,” West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite said during the post-play TV interview. “For sure, it was a better pitch than 282, but we fought back well, and our discipline altogether wasn’t good.”
He added: “Generally, I do think that we were as disciplined as we could have been with the ball. For sure, when you look at the percentages and groupings of balls, they were not good enough. They were not good enough to put any batting team under pressure for long periods.”
West Indies were 151 for five at lunch on Sunday, but Wood produced a destructive spell to end with five for 40 from 14 overs to make him a shoo-in for the Player-of-the-Match award and extinguish any possibilities of another fightback from the Caribbean side in the series, leaving England a modest 82 to win.
The visitors then suffered insult when Ben Stokes came to open the batting with fellow left-hander Ben Duckett because regular opener Zak Crawley had injured his hand earlier while trying to take a slip catch off Wood, and the England captain carved up their bowling to hasten his side to victory.
None of the West Indies bowlers were spared – and Stokes smashed pacer Shamar Joseph over mid-wicket for a six to set a record for the fastest 50 by an England batsman in Tests and the joint third-fastest overall off only 24 balls.
The result was formalised about 15 minutes before tea when a short, but flat faster delivery from Brathwaite, peddling his uncomplicated off-spin, was plunked over the backward square leg boundary for six by Stokes, who finished on 57 not out, with Duckett, not out on 25.
West Indies also lost the first Test that ended three Fridays ago – inside three days – by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s, and the second Test that finished last Sunday — inside four days – by 241 runs at Trent Bridge.
Seales was named the West Indies Player-of-the-Series and Atkinson was named the England Player-of-the-Series.
West Indies are to return to the Caribbean this week to begin preparations for a two-Test series against South Africa, starting August 7 at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. The second Test is scheduled to begin on August 15 at the Guyana National Stadium.
England’s captain, Ben Stokes (left), walks off with teammate Ben Duckett after winning on the third day of the third Test cricket match versus West Indies at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England, on Sunday.
West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite (Photos: AFP)
SCOREBOARD
West Indies 1st Innings 282
England 1st Innings 376
West Indies 2nd Innings
(overnight 33-2)
*K Brathwaite b Woakes 0
M Louis b Stokes 57
K McKenzie c wk Smith b
Atkinson 8
A Athanaze lbw b Shoaib
Bashir 12
K Hodge c wk Smith b Wood
55
J Holder lbw b Atkinson 12
†J Da Silva lbw b Wood 5
A Joseph b Wood 2
G Motie not out 8
J Seales b Wood 0
S Joseph c Brook b Wood 4
Extras (lb10, nb2) 12
Total (all out, 52 overs) 175
Fall of wickets: 1-0
(Brathwaite), 2-22 (McKenzie),
3-53 (Athanaze), 4-125
(Louis), 5-146 (Holder), 6-156
(Da Silva), 7-162 (A. Joseph),
8-171 (Hodge), 9-171 (Seales).
Bowling: Woakes 6-2-14-1;
Atkinson 9-0-28-2 (nb2);
Shoaib Bashir 15-1-41-1;
Wood 15-1-40-5; Stokes 8-0-
42-1.
England 2nd Innings (target:
82)
B Stokes not out 57
B Duckett not out 25
Extras (b4, lb1) 5
Total (without loss, 7.2 overs)
87
Bowling: A Joseph 3-0-25-
0; Seales 1-0-11-0; Holder
2-0-31-0; S Joseph 1-0-9-0;
Brathwaite 0.2-0-4-0.
Result: England won by 10
wickets.
Series: England win threematch Richards-Botham Trophy
Series 3-0.
Points: England 12, West
Indies 0.
Player-of-the-Match: M. Wood
(England).
Player-of-the-Series for
England: A. Atkinson.
Player-of-the-Series for West
Indies: J. Seales
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock
(South Africa), Nitin Menon
(India).
TV umpire: Rod Tucker
(Australia).
Match referee: Javagal Srinath
(India).
Reserve umpire: Russell
Warren.
