ENG vs WI | Twitter reacts to England’s valiant middle order keeping Windies at bay ahead of 'moving day'

07/27/2024

Valiant endeavours from England’s lower-middle order, including fifties from Jamie Smith, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, and Chris Woakes, ensured England put West Indies at bay on Day 2. Having lost a couple of early wickets in the third session, the visitors trail by 61 runs at the end of the second day.

‌The overnight batters Joe Root and Ollie Pope faced the heat from Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales in the first half of the morning session with the latter losing his wicket. Harry Brook followed suit as Seales struck from the other end, reducing England to 54/5. England captain Ben Stokes stepped in yet again under pressure with Root handling business from the other side. The pair brought up 100 runs in the 21st over and accelerated further with the Yorkshireman racing to a half-century. The right and left-handed duo chalked up a hundred-run stand at the stroke of Lunch with England’s score reading 157/5 in 33 overs.

As the experienced tag team continued to steer the side, Alzarri’s short ball outwitted Stokes to break the 115-run stand. Jamie Smith accompanied Root and played an aggressive brand of cricket including a huge six off Alzarri. As the partnership grew to 62, Gudakesh Motie produced a peach to trap Root for 87 before rain caused a delay, summoning early Tea.

The odd ball kept low as the third session began but Chris Woakes and Jamie opted for a watchful approach to negate the Windies bowlers. They converted the fifty-run stand to a century partnership before Shamar cleaned up Jamie five runs short of his maiden ton. Minute contributions from the last couple of wickets along with Woakes’ measured fifty, helped the Three Lions attain a 94-run lead as they finished at 376.

Similar to their counterparts, the Windies lost a couple of early wickets to the new hard ball as Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson found considerable seam movement to challenge the willow’s edges. However, Kirk McKenzie and Alick Athanaze withstood them for the remainder of the day with West Indies trailing by 61 runs at Stumps Day 2.

24th bowler

Alzarri Joseph became the 24th West Indian bowler to pick 100 wickets in Test cricket. pic.twitter.com/gVAitZ3iXj
— The sports (@the_sports_x) July 27, 2024

Congrats

100 Test wickets for bright young West Indies star Alzarri Joseph 👏huge Congrats Alzarri👏🏾 Ben Stokes was a big wicket for your hundred #ENGvWI #sscricket #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/Ci2opDRpOj
— Christopher (@Christo79744616) July 27, 2024

Dissappointment

Alzarri Joseph biggest disappointment in tests for WI

As Broad said,has every attributes needed to be a top level test seamer but underperforms massively

Bowls like peak Donald in one ball& then immediately bowls like Rubel Hossain in next one#ENGvWI
— Sinlesann (@SINLESANN) July 27, 2024

Well played

100 Test wickets for bright young WI star, Alzarri Joseph 👏#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/k0lS3h9yYS
— ThePoppingCrease (@PoppingCreaseSA) July 27, 2024

So incosistent

Alzarri Joseph cannot b West Indies leading bowler. His bowling is so inconsistent. Shocked Greats like Ambrose Walsh and even Bishop haven’t pulled him aside n have a word with him. It’s so hard to watch at times @windiescricket
— In Yuh Rookcung Kertungcung (@ahbaijabbabai) July 27, 2024

Standing ovation

Well played Jamie Smith ♥️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

You deserve standing ovation 👏 pic.twitter.com/AQFJu1SLoh
— 𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@kohlifangirl178) July 27, 2024

Hollies on feet

Noooooo 🥲

The Hollies are on their feet as Jamie Smith goes for an epic 95.#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/pBBi4Sk6H1
— England's Barmy Army 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) July 27, 2024

Unlucky