Another day to forget in Antigua was at least one for England to savour. Only two wickets fell, the first of which closed West Indies first innings on 375 all out, before Zak Crawley and Joe Root compiled 193 runs for the second wicket in the tourists’ second innings to end Friday with a healthy lead of 153.
Had the weather not washed out the 23.4 overs remaining, England might have been in control going into the final day. What frustration they may have at a stagnant pitch was dwarfed by the joy brought about by an accomplished second Test century from Crawley, aided by an immaculate yet unspectacular 84 from Root. Both will return to gorge on the welcoming conditions, particularly the former, on 117 not out, in a bid to make up for lost time.
It’s probably not right to say this score had been coming for Crawley. The 24-year-old’s merits as Test player have always been sold as a concept: his crisp driving and competency against the short ball clear on view but not as apparent in a first class record of a 30 average and just three hundreds when he debuted in November 2019.
A maiden century of 267 against Pakistan in the pandemic summer of 2020 was a realisation of that potential, only for the mother of all dips to suggest this hunch might have been a stretch. He followed up that knock with 12 single-figure scores and then averaged a meagre 10.81 from 16 innings in 2021.
But a recall during the Ashes by virtue of being the only viable alternative up top was the first of a longer stint in the top three. And here, with all those drives and all those pulls - contributing to the 18 boundaries he has so far - have once more made that promise a reality. For how long, who knows. Nevertheless, this is what England hope will be the first of many hundreds as an opener. It is also his first in front of a crowd.
There was the faintest alarm when the umpires convened to check on a slip catch off Crawley when he had 71, after an edge onto his pad to slip off Permaul. Replays showed he’d hit the ball into the ground first. Then again on 109 when a glove down the leg side off Kemar Roach evaded a diving Joshua Da Silva. And while it is fair to say this should be one of the easier knocks at this level, the way he dealt with the pressure of England’s 74-run deficit when he began was commendable.
Jack Leach needed just three deliveries to finish West Indies’ first innings, trapping Jayden Seales leg before to finish his immaculate work across 43.3 overs for a well earned two for 79. It rounded out what was probably the left-arm spinner’s most impressive turn with the ball for England, even given the two five-wicket hauls and seven four-fors he has to his name. These were certainly not favourable conditions for his craft, or anyone else’s for that matter.
But the new ball, particularly in the hands of Kemar Roach, was always going to be a threat and the memories of a top four collapse for 48 just 72 hours earlier was still fresh in English minds that would have tired in the 158 overs spent in the field. It didn’t take long for the cold sweats to break out when the finger was raised against Crawley at the end of the first over. Mercifully for English nerves, DRS showed the ball to he hooping wildly past leg stump.
Crawley, positioned on off stump, got himself into a tangle, front foot stepping out and getting in the way of his bat arc. But the reprieve allowed him to recalibrate to move fluent movements took him convincingly through to lunch on 45. By then England had taken the lead, 72 by their name albeit for the loss of Alex Lees for another single figure score.
The opener had made it to six before being undone as he had been in the first innings: Roach coercing him into misjudging a delivery coming into his pads after plenty going away from the left-hander. It is a dismissal the Durham opener is no stranger to, and one he should be given time to rectify at this level. Nevertheless, the 24 he and Crawley managed between them was the third-highest stand for the first wicket this winter.
Lees might have considered himself a touch unfortunate given how things played out from then on. Or didn’t. The West Indies toiled in the field just as England did, banging deliveries into their pitch as if it were their heads into a wall. Crawley passed fifty for the seventh time in his career, and second since his reintroduction during the Ashes four Tests ago.
Root was soon moving past the same score, a necessary marker in this latest go at number three, ticking over 2,000 runs in that position. Important out of context, but no doubt the skipper will be under no illusions that these runs, however fluent, came in very manageable, almost benign conditions.
That’s not to say there were no positives to garner from this passage. Neither batter were drawn into taking undue risks, even when Veerasammy Permaul and Kraigg Brathwaite bowled well wide of the stumps. And the noise off the middle of their bats was an aural calm England fans have not experienced in some time.
The formalities of Crawley’s century came with two runs off his 181st delivery into midwicket getting him to a clean 100. There was little by way of celebration, but the expression was of joy and relief. Root was more animated, punching the air in delight as he came home for the second run and then meeting his partner more than halfway for a hug.
Had the day not been curtailed, he’d have surely had his own hundred to saviour, and no doubt mulling over a declaration that would have jolted some life back into this Test. Alas, with just 90 overs remaining, and with this being the first of three matches, a sporting declaration seems unlikely.
