Chris Woakes defended England’s approach after they lost three wickets in the final half-hour of the opening day at Edgbaston to reach stumps at 38 for three, still 244 runs behind, having chosen to be cavalier rather than cautious in a potentially tricky late-afternoon mini-session.
“We always try to take the positive option, particularly the two openers in Zak [Crawley] and Ben [Duckett]. Unfortunately on this occasion it didn’t quite come off,” Woakes said.
“Naturally you’d like to go in at the close no more than one down, so you have to credit the West Indies for coming out in what was a tricky period to take three wickets. But going into tomorrow we’ve still got two top players at the crease and then a middle order which can build partnerships and hopefully put on some big runs.”
After winning the toss West Indies were bowled out for 282, with Kraigg Brathwaite and Jason Holder both scoring half-centuries, though they lost their first five wickets for 39 runs and their last four for 38.
“When you lose a toss at Edgbaston, to bowl a team out on day one is a great effort,” Woakes said. “We kept doing the right things, putting the ball in the right areas and got rewards. I think actually West Indies have been hard done by – it’s easy for people to write teams off but they’ve scrapped hard, they’ve come back well into the series, and they’ve made us work hard for our wickets. For us to keep finding ways to take 10 wickets has been a good positive to take out of it.”
Holder said the three wickets that fell at the end of the day, with Crawley dismissed for 18, Duckett for three and the “nighthawk” Mark Wood without scoring, had set the game up to be “something quite exciting”.
“It was a bonus at the end of the day for us, getting the three wickets,” he said. “I think the game is set up to be a really nice one. Any time you get as many wickets as we had on the first day, it always sets it up to be quite exciting.
“We’ve been at fault for gifting the English batters a few too many boundaries up front, but not only have we got wickets, we’ve been able to keep it relatively tight.”
Holder was eventually clean bowled for 59 by Gus Atkinson, who took four wickets to bring his running total in his first Test series to 20, twice as many as any other England player.
“He’s making it look quite easy, isn’t he?” said Woakes, whose three wickets took his total to 10. “He’s just showcased his skills really: he’s got the ability to swing the ball, he’s got a good wobble seam, and he’s got some pace behind him and can use the short ball ploy well. He looks the all-round bowler.”
