The West Indies fought back well to take four wickets on the third morning of the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, England, yesterday as they checked England’s progress.
At lunch, England were 340 for six in reply to the West Indies’ 370 — still 30 runs behind after resuming on 259 for two in ideal, sunny batting conditions.
England captain Andrew Strauss was 125 not out, having started the day unbeaten on 102 — his second century in as many matches after his 123 in the five-wicket win over the West Indies at Lord’s in the first Test. Tim Bresnan was unbeaten on 4.
It was the first time in his 21 Test centuries that Strauss had added more than six runs when not out overnight on a century, but the fact he scored just 23 runs in the session was testament to the accuracy of the West Indies’ attack, with fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul and Kemar Roach doing the damage.
Kevin Pietersen had looked in excellent touch while making 72 on Saturday, but he added just eight runs to his overnight score when he was leg before wicket to a Rampaul inswinger.
Despite his challenge, Pietersen had to go for 80 to end a stand of 144.
At that stage, Rampaul had taken three for 43 and the rest of the attack none for 210.
The West Indies took the new ball as soon as possible with England 299 for three off 80 overs and it brought rewards, with Roach, who had sent down eight no-balls on Saturday, getting back into his stride with two wickets for six runs in 16 balls to reduce England to 308 for five.
With the fourth delivery with the new ball, Roach had Ian Bell aiming across the line, leg before wicket for 22, although the tourists had to challenge umpire Aleem Dar’s original not-out verdict.
Jonathan Bairstow, in just his second Test, never looked comfortable against the short ball and, trying to turn a rising Roach delivery to leg, he got a leading edge to mid-on and was caught by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy then got in on the act when the medium-pacer bowled Matt Prior off an inside-edge.
Strauss, asked to explain his recent form on Saturday evening, said: “I suppose to a degree it’s confidence, but it’s a strange game — sometimes batting feels difficult, with a few runs under your belt it’s easier.”
“I’m delighted to be in form and determined to make the most of it,” he said. “You can never look too far ahead. I’ll focus on getting myself back in the morning — that’s a big enough challenge for me.”
With England still some way off a first-innings lead, Strauss joked about not adding runs to overnight centuries, saying he might have to change his routine if he was to keep on batting yesterday.
“It’s nice to feel back in form, and as a captain it’s great to contribute and lead from the front,” said Strauss, playing his 96th Test. “I’ve never got blindly drunk the night before, so maybe that’s an option.”
“There’s no reason why you can’t [kick on the next day], that will be an opportunity for me tomorrow [Sunday],” said Strauss, whose Test-best score remains the 177 he made against New Zealand in Napier in 2008.
Strauss’ 21st Test century left him just one short of the England record of 22 held jointly by Walter Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott.
However, Strauss played down his achievement.
“It’s a different game to those days, we play more cricket,” he said. “You only have to look at Sachin Tendulkar to realize 21 is not that many [the India great has 51 Test centuries), but it’s still nice to get them.”
Saturday proved a memorable day, too, for West Indies captain Sammy as he completed a maiden Test century after being 88 not out overnight.
The all-rounder’s place in the side has been repeatedly called into question, most recently by West Indies great Michael Holding.
“I’m playing against the No. 1 team in the world and everybody wants to perform against the best,” Sammy said. “To do that [score a century] in this Test match with the bat, it feels good for somebody like me who has been under pressure from day one.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier