Brilliant Bairstow saves England in Antigua against West Indies

For all the talk of a ‘red-ball reset’, the first hour of the first test had an air of familiarity about it for many an English cricket fan.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, skipper Joe Root would have been hoping to have his feet up well into the day’s play, however, he found himself at the crease for the 16th ball of the morning after debutant Alex Lees was pinned lbw by Kemar Roach for only four.

While there was little Lees could do about his dismissal, opening partner Zak Crawley fell in an all-to-familiar fashion shortly after, driving flat-footed at one from Jayden Seales and being expertly taken by Joshua da Silva behind the stumps.

Root has regularly been the man England turn to in a crisis however he looked less than comfortable, offering a sharp chance to Jermaine Blackwood in the slips before shouldering arms to a ball from Roach that tailed back in and clipped his off-stump to leave the visitors 27-3.

Dan Lawrence and Ben Stokes briefly looked to have steadied the ship but just as Lawrence was starting to appear settled, he fell into a trap that English batsmen have been guilty of far too often in the last few years, playing across a straight ball which he arguably should have been looking to defend and offering a chance to Blackwood which was held this time as England lost their fourth wicket in the opening session of the test.

This brought Jonny Bairstow, England’s only centurion on the recent Ashes tour of Australia, to the crease and, together with Stokes, they guided England through to the lunch interval where the score read 57-4.

After the break, the pair began to play slightly more expansively, adding 58 runs in just less than 16 overs before Stokes dragged onto his stumps, attempting a booming drive at a full delivery from Seales and curtailing their stand of 67.

The recalled Ben Foakes was the next man in and, alongside Bairstow, they accrued runs sensibly for the rest of the session, a far better one for Root’s side as they reached the tea break with England 145-5, having added 88 runs across the afternoon session as the pitch dried out.

The pair started strongly after the interval too, with Bairstow moving past his 23rd test match half-century, brought up off 127 deliveries, as they continued to lead the English recovery.

There was controversy in the 63rd over when umpire Joel Wilson gave Bairstow out caught behind as he angled a sweep off left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul but the Yorkshireman reviewed immediately and the decision was correctly overturned in quick time.

Down the other end, Surrey keeper Foakes was steadily building an innings in his first test match appearance in just over a year since the 4th Test in India where he scored one run in each innings.

Bairstow continued to accelerate, hitting three fours in succession off Roach as the partnership crept towards the century mark while Foakes drew closer to his 2nd test fifty.

However, the ICC’s number one ranked all-rounder, Jason Holder, would have other ideas, getting the ball to nip back and trap Foakes on the crease, curtailing the partnership on 99 and the Surrey man’s innings on 42 from 87 balls.

Chris Woakes would then contribute to another scare for Bairstow when Alzarri Joseph tipped a straight drive back towards the non-striker’s end but a dive saved Yorkshireman as he made his ground before Holder dropped Woakes the next ball with the seamer yet to get off the mark.

With time running out in the day, there was still enough overs left for Bairstow to register his eighth Test match century, coming off 190 deliveries, the slowest in his career, as he vindicated the decision to keep faith in him after his recall for the Ashes tour.

Bairstow and Woakes dragged their partnership beyond the 50 run mark in the final over of the day as they carried England to 268-6 at the close of play, a position from which they will be looking to push up to 350 on Day two.

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