BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AFP) — West Indies defied the odds and a wearing pitch to complete a series-levelling five-wicket victory over England on the third day of the third and final Test yesterday.
Set a daunting target of 192 after the tourists were dismissed for 123 in their second innings, a 108-run fifth-wicket partnership between Darren Bravo and Jermaine Blackwood tilted the match decisively the Caribbean side’s way.
It was their first victory over England since the opening match of the 2009 series in Kingston, Jamaica.
Bravo’s controlled knock of 82 ended when he attempted to make the victory hit off Ben Stokes as Stuart Broad pulled down the catch at mid-off.
It was left to Blackwood to finish off the match in the next over, hoisting Moeen Ali’s off-spin over long-on to complete a team and personal triumph following his first innings top score of 85 out of a total of 189.
West Indies seemed on the verge of another capitulation when veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who endured a poor series, played on to James Anderson without scoring to leave the home side uncomfortably placed at 80 for four.
However, Blackwood capitalised on a significant moment of luck — a missed stumping by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler off Joe Root when only on four — to stay with his senior partner.
Gradually they wore down the England bowlers before unfurling the attacking shots that sped the West Indies to the target that seemed beyond them at the start of the chase given the state of the pitch and the low-scoring nature of the match.
Openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope saw off the early assault from Anderson and Broad, although not without a few anxious moments.
However the introduction of Chris Jordan into the attack brought the breakthrough that England craved as the debutant fell leg-before for nine.
In the very next over, Jordan’s brilliance at slip throughout the series was again in evidence as he held on to a sharp chance left-handed to remove Brathwaite off Ali’s off-spin for 25.
England had started the day brightly, putting on 51 in the first hour for the loss of just one wicket from a perilous overnight position of 39 for five.
Gary Ballance was that early casualty after England resumed in the perilous overnight position of 39 for five.
England won the second Test in Grenada by nine wickets while the opening game of the three-match series in Antigua was drawn.
