England captain Ben Stokes, right, reacts after West Indies captain Jason Holder, left, hit a boundary off one of his deliveries during the fifth day of the first cricket Test match between England and West Indies, at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, England, Sunday, July 12, 2020.
Adrian Dennis/Pool via AP
The West Indies are leading their three-Test series against England 1-0 thanks in large part to their skipper Jason Holder.
One of the sub-plots of the #RaiseTheBat series for the Wisden Trophy, like one of the storylines in a well-put-together soap opera, was always going to be the battle of the allrounders, Holder and the man who captained England in that first-Test defeat, Ben Stokes.
On the face of it, Holder is winning that battle after his 6-42, 1-49, the wicket of Stokes in both innings, and his sensible batting at the very end of the encounter where the West Indies enjoyed a 4-wicket win.
In England’s first innings, Stokes (43) was on his way to helping the hosts recover when Holder turned him around with a brilliant delivery that shaped towards him then left the left-hander after it pitched.
The wicket was pivotal in the innings but perhaps not as massive for the outcome as Stokes’ second time at-bat.
With the hosts looking comfortable with Zak Crawley, who would end up scoring 76 and Stokes (46) at the wicket, the West Indies, while still ahead in the match, for all intents, needed a wicket.
Stokes had driven the ball well, coming down the pitch to the bowlers and turning good lengths into drivable instances.
Holder, was again, the man to break up the partnership, getting another delivery to leave Stokes who ended up pushing the ball into the hands of Shai Hope at gully. Interestingly, Holder had just changed the field to include two gullies.
The move was brilliant.
But let us look at the losing effort of the England stand-in captain.
In that first innings where England were skittled out for 204 in the best conditions for bowling the match had provided, Stokes’ 43 was the high score and allowed the hosts something to bowl at.
When Stokes bowled, his 4-49 also led the team, restricting the West Indies to 318, a lead of 114.
The situation could have been worse had it not been for Stokes input.
Stokes had taken 4 wickets and scored 43 runs, Holder had taken six and s and scored five.
While the West Indies were in control, Stokes’ input had been making a game of it.
In the second innings, Holder batted better, scoring an unbeaten 14, that was chanceless, and he did remove the England allrounder again.
But still, Stokes second innings with bat and ball was better.
He had scored 46 in that second innings and with the ball had 2-39.
So in the end, Stokes with two 40+ scores, an average of 44.5, and match figures of 6-88, could well claim to have performed better than did Holder.
Holder had match figures of 7-91 and scored 19 runs total.
The moments when Holder performed in addition to the eventual result of the game may have put his performances under the spotlight, while Stokes’s flew under the radar, but the truth is, there was heroism in the England allrounder’s efforts.
Stokes certainly played no small part in making a game of the encounter and if you were to just look at the numbers in isolation, may just be shaving the contest of the allrounders to date.
But there are two games to go and Holder, the number-one allrounder in Test cricket, may have more to say about the contest yet.
But remember Stokes, he lies second on that list of the world’s best with bat and ball.
Paul-Andre is the Managing Editor at SportsMax.tv. He comes to the role with almost 20 years of experience as journalist. That experience includes all facets of media. He began as a sports Journalist in 2001, quickly moving into radio, where he was an editor before becoming a news editor and then an entertainment editor with one of the biggest media houses in the Caribbean.
'I'm up for the fight' - Roach ready to put in hard work needed to take Bangladesh wickets
West Indies fast bowler, Kemar Roach, insists he is ready for the challenge of trying to take wickets on Bangladesh pitches, despite the surfaces being more suited to spin-bowling.
Despite the presence of several spinners in the squad, the 32-year-old is expected to lead the West Indies bowling line-up, along with fellow pace bowlers Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph. If the dominance of spinners in the One Day International series, on pitches that offered very little assistance to pace bowlers, is anything to go by they will certainly have their work cut out.
Having been in Bangladesh on two prior Test series, Roach would know first-hand what it takes to succeed on spin-friendly terrain.
In 2011, he claimed 0 for 52 off 9 overs and 1 for 49 off 13.2 overs in the second Test of the series. When he returned in 2018, he claimed 1 for 74 off 18 overs in the first Test and 2 for 61 in 25 overs as Bangladesh made a mammoth 500 in the second Test.
“It mostly favours the spinners but I think there is enough there for fast bowlers to get something as well. It’s just about having your plans, executing, and being disciplined,” Roach told members of the media via a press conference from Bangladesh on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be tough, we know we have to bowl a lot more overs to get our rewards but once you are willing to put the work in you can get some rewards over here…so it’s going to be tough but I’m up for the fight.”
The Windies have had recent success with pace bowling in Bangladesh with Tino Best claiming a five-for in 2012 and Fidel Edwards claiming 8 wickets in the 2011 series.
'Extra time helps us prepare for 'difficult' conditions' - WI spinner Cornwall grateful for long lead-up to Test series
West Indies spinner, Rahkeem Cornwall, believes the unusually long preparation time before the start of the Bangladesh Test series has been beneficial for players needing to get used to ‘difficult’ conditions.
The regional team arrived in Bangladesh on January 10 and was required to quarantine for 7 days based on the country’s COVID-19 protocols. Since clearing that hurdle, however, the Test team has been free to train and will not start the series until February 1.
The Asian team is known for being particularly difficult to beat on their home turf and easily dispatched the West Indies 2-0 on their last visit in 2018. One of those advantages is said to be the team’s pitches.
“It has helped (extra time) you have to adapt to these conditions. These conditions are difficult to play in, so the more time we get to understand the conditions is the better it is for us,” Cornwall said.
“It spins a bit more here. It is always going to be drier than the Caribbean. So, we just have to adapt to it and play to the best of our ability,” he added.
The inexperienced West Indies team will be hoping for a better showing than in the recently concluded One Day International (ODI) series where the team was summarily swept aside 3-0. The ODI batting line-up found the top class Bangladesh spinners on the surfaces a difficult task to cope with.
England suffer Underhill Six Nations blow
Sam Underhill is the latest player to withdraw from England's Six Nations squad due to a hip injury.
Jack Willis has been called up as a replacement for back-row Underhill, who is another big loss for the defending champions.
Underhill played a big part in England's Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup triumphs last year but sustained an injury blow before he was due to link up with the squad at St. George's Park on Wednesday.
Willis made his Test debut against Georgia last November and will be hoping to make his Six Nations bow in the coming weeks.
Underhill's withdrawal comes a day after Joe Launchbury and Joe Marler were ruled out due to a fibula stress fracture and personal reasons respectively.
England head coach Eddie Jones' preparations had already been disrupted last week when he was forced to go into self-isolation after his assistant Matt Proudfoot tested positive for coronavirus.
The Red Rose start the defence of their title against Scotland at Twickenham a week on Saturday.
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