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Sho good! 😉
Shoaib Bashir has our first on Day 3! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/x2K8GdK1Ua
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 28, 2024
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Hello, good morning and welcome to the OBO of day three at Edgbaston. Will this be the final day of the series? Hope not, hope not.
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After reducing England to 54-5 yesterday morning, West Indies would have been half thinking about a first innings lead they could stretch in their second dig and set England a tough chase at the back end of the game.
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Enter Jamie Smith. The wicketkeeper batter showed exactly why Stokes and McCullum took an informed punt on him over Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes. Smith took the precarious situation and the friendly volley from Jason Holder upon arrival at the crease well and truly in his stride.
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Batting with the imperious Joe Root the 24 year old lad from Epsom played a remarkably assured innings. Working his way through the gears through the afternoon, Smith got England to a position of safety and then dominance. He fully deserved a first Test century but was undone by a slower ball scudder from Shamar Joseph on 95. Even his phlegmatic attitude to missing out on the personal milestone was impressive:
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If someone had said to me at the start of the day: ‘You’ll get 95,’ I definitely would have taken it…I’ll be a little bit gutted in a couple of days to miss out on the milestone but it’s great to put in a performance for the team. It’s nice to set that out quite early in your career, that you are someone that’s going to go out and be positive and not be afraid of the opposition.”
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England winkled out two wickets at the close, leaving West Indies adrift by 61 runs with eight wickets remaining in their second innings. All results are in play at the dawn of day three – apart from the dreaded draw of Ben Stokes’s nightmares of course.
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Please do get in touch if you are tuning in, play gets underway in a little over 30 minutes at 11am BST.
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Important Events
22nd over: West Indies 64-3 (Lewis 29, Hodge 9) Bashir again probed but only managed to hit a couple of singles.
meanwhile:
Like father, like son!
Lockie Flintoff becomes Lancashire’s youngest ever player to make his professional debut in the One-Day Cup. pic.twitter.com/rj9TUKHBFf
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) July 28, 2024
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Like father, like son!
Lockie Flintoff becomes Lancashire’s youngest ever player to make his professional debut in the One-Day Cup. pic.twitter.com/rj9TUKHBFf
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) July 28, 2024
22nd over: West Indies 62-3 (Lewis 28, Hodge 8) Lewis jabs a short ball that hits Wood on the ribs and then pans it diving short of midwicket. Wood looks like he can take a wicket with any ball at the moment! Catch me! Hodge hits a 92mph ball outside the off stump and it goes through the cordon for another four!
The art of living riskily Author: Kavem Hodge.
21st over: West Indies 57-3 (Lewis 27, Hodge 4) Kavem Hodge came up to bat and nearly got two when Basheer bounced the ball off his first ball and his defensive effort went past Joe Root’s diving left wing for four.
Wickets! Athanase lbw b Shoaib Bashir 12 (West Indies 53-3)
Dead as hell! Bashir on his line, Athanadze misses straight. No review needed. Of course. Three red cards and England’s first point of the morning.
Good for you! 😉
Shoaib Bashir gets his first win on Day 3! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/x2K8GdK1Ua
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 28, 2024
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20th innings: West Indies 53-2 (Louis 27, Athanadze 12) Oh no! Athanadze took a full-on cut ball from Mark Wood that flew past Harry Brook and into the air. It’s hard to call it a drop. If he’d stuck it out there would have been a furor. The result was four and West Indies had reached fifty.
Round 19: West Indies 47-2 (Louis 26, Athanadze 7) What a shame! Bashir caught the ball, it hit the inside edge of Lewis’ bat and flew up out of reach of Pope at short leg.
“Yesterday I asked whether West Indies would force a follow-on when England were struggling at 50-50,” Krishamoorthy said in an email. “Today I’m wondering whether England should be asked to bat again. I understand how fickle this game is.”
I think this shows that hard work pays off in this format. It’s definitely tough for batsmen at the moment but if they can survive, they can succeed. Use guys like Wood, Woakes and Atkinson for the third and fourth innings and force England to try and take advantage of their chances. Give them the batting edge for the majority of the day and set England a tough target of 200-250? I’m all for it.
Round 18: West Indies 46-2 (Louis 25, Athanadze 7) Wood again delivered like a camel in a fit of anger and Lewis looked extremely uncomfortable as he blocked the ball off his bat with one hand against his ribs. Don’t you? Ollie Pope gestures towards Ben Stokes to close the lid and camp at “boot hill”/short leg.
17th innings: West Indies 44-2 (Louis 24, Athanadze 6) Basheer continued to bat, the back of his shirt flapping in the breeze as he approached the batting post, and Dot’s tidy over was marred by a leg-side ball that Louis swept with minimal fuss for four.
Round of 16: West Indies 40-2 (Louis 20, Athanadze 6) Mark Wood has come on with a thunderous roar. “A fast bowler in heart and soul,” is how Mike Atherton, taking over from the late John Arlott on TV commentary, assessed the Durham fast bowler. Wood is already clocking speeds of over 90mph and is truly phenomenal. it hurts! Wood’s snorting ball rocketed up and slammed into Athanadze’s shoulder, instantly creating a bruise the size of a peach.
15th innings: West Indies 39-2 (Louis 19, Athanadze 6) Bashir steps to the crease with quick feet and high arms. Athanadze rocks back and drives it through the covers for a single. Mikhail Lewis is on strike. He’s yet to make a notable contribution but it’s been a decent series. Bashir does some deflection but flows down the leg side and beats Jamie Smith behind the stumps for the first boundary of the day from Vise.
To the Sounds of Jerusalem – TMS overseas link here
https://m.youtube.com/live/dtcDCZKUx1A?cbrd=1
Thanks to Simon Dennis.
The players are coming. A photo of Edgbaston in bright sunshine. We’ll be playing spin so keep your head up. Shoaib Bashir played some lightning-quick overs last night and clearly didn’t care about the poor OBO reporter. Let’s play!
I reckon bending down to load the dishwasher uses about twice as much…
When you throw a fastball, you exert a force of roughly eight times your body weight on your front leg every time you deliver the ball.
It’s really compelling to see how much effort Mark Wood puts into each delivery…#bbccricket pic.twitter.com/6tE0pKjj5q
— Henry Moeran (@henrymoeranBBC) July 28, 2024
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When you throw a fastball, you exert a force of roughly eight times your body weight on your front leg every time you deliver the ball.
It’s really compelling to see how much effort Mark Wood puts into each delivery…#bbccricket pic.twitter.com/6tE0pKjj5q
— Henry Moeran (@henrymoeranBBC) July 28, 2024
Back to Cricket – With just over five minutes to go, Ali Martin’s Day 2 report is well worth a read.
Big Boss Steve McMillan is the Olympics editor And I found myself giggling as Kenko read her diary about her week in Paris.
Emmanuel and Brigitte stroll about. I approach for pearls of wisdom, but a bodyguard blocks me. My colleague Nick Ames lunges forward, paw forward. “Bonjour, Mr President!” Our eyes meet, our hands are shook, and Macron utters the immortal line: “The Guardian? Thanks for coming.” Nick has the scoop. I’m empty-handed. So he’s a brave war correspondent and I’m eating my lunch at my desk.
Not wanting to divert attention from OBO for a second, the Olympics are in full swing and of course The Guardian is covering it – follow our Olympics blog here
Last night I ate a giant spaghetti bolognese, then watched a swimming competition – Adam Peaty’s giant, dripping-hot frame is the epitome of athletic masculinity – and finished by dipping some garlic bread in ragout and vowing to do some push-ups today…
Joe Root is a great player of the game. His match yesterday was a blast. If I were Sachin Tendulkar (and I am) Must emphasize If I wasn’t, I think I would get nervous and glance over my shoulder a little bit.
At Trent Bridge, Root and Brook provided a decisive link-up that steered England safely through the most troubling periods of the match, and here Root worked in a similar way to Stokes, gradually easing the pressure on his team and shifting it onto the opposition until Smith and Chris Woakes were able to take complete control of the home side, making the unlikely happen.
At that point, the all-time great Sachin Tendulkar is 3,960 runs ahead. On days like these, it feels like it’s just a matter of time.”
preamble
James Wallace
Hello, good morning and welcome to the third day of OBO at Edgbaston. Will today be the last day of the series? I hope not. I hope not..
After trailing England to 54 for 5 yesterday morning, the West Indies would have been looking to extend their first-innings lead in the second innings and give England a tough chase in the closing stages of the match.
Enter Jamie Smith. The wicketkeeper-batsman showed exactly why Stokes and McCullum punted on him over Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes. Smith handled the dangerous situation well, Friendly Jason Holder arrived at the crease and volleyed well.
Batting alongside the imposing Joe Root, the 24-year-old from Epsom played a surprisingly confident innings. Smith went through a gear throughout the afternoon and guided England to safety and then control. He deservedly hit his maiden Test century but was beaten by a slow scatter from Shamar Joseph for 95. Even his cool attitude at missing out on a personal milestone was impressive.
If someone had told me at the beginning of the day, ‘You’re going to get 95,’ I would have definitely taken it… A few days later I’ll be a little disappointed to miss that milestone, but it’s great to have performed for the team. It’s good to show at such an early stage in my career that I’m a guy who goes out there and isn’t afraid of the opposition.”
England had taken two wickets at the end of the match and the West Indies were trailing by 61 with eight wickets to spare in the second innings. The full result will be known at dawn on the third day. That’s horrible Of course, it depicts Ben Stokes’ nightmare.
Please get in touch if you’d like to tune in. The match starts in just over half an hour at 11am BST.
