West Indies captain Jason Holder and pacer Shannon Gabriel bowled inspirational spells on Day 2 of the first Test against England at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. While Holder registered ﷽his best figure♏s in Test cricket, Gabriel too shimmered with the red-ball.
England’s overnight scorers, Rory Burns and Joe Denly started, the day with a hope to build a partnership, but they could only add 11 runs before Gabriel drew the first blood in the opening session. Top-order batsman Denly received a ripper, and his defence was shattered. Soon after, Burns too became the victim of Gabriel as the left-handed batter was adjudged leg-before wicket.
As if two blows in the initial overs were ℱnot enough, England yet again received rock-bottom when they lost two more batsmen in the form of Zack Crawley and Ollie Pope. Holder dismissed Cra🌠wley for 10 followed by Pope for 12, and all of a sudden hosts were struggling at 87/5.
However, then English stand-in skipper Ben Stokes along with attacking batsman Jos Buttler tooꦜk their side from hot waters and added a critical 67-run stand. But it was Holder again who provided the breakthrough. He got both Stokes and Buttler caught out behind the wic♎kets.
In the end, England could only reach 204. Holder finished off with six wickets in 20 overs. He gave 42 runs and went past his previous best of 6 for 59. Gabriel, on the other hand, picked up four wi𒆙c🦩kets in 15.3 overs.
West Indies openers Kraigg Braithwaite and John Campbell started the Caribbean innings. Unlike England, the visitors had a steady start as the duo added 43 runs on the board before England’s highest wicket-taker in the longest format, James Anderson, sent Campbell back into the pavilion.
At the end of day’s play, West Indies reached 57-1 with Braithwaite, and Shai Hope remained unbeaten on 20 and 3, respectively.
