3 things England need to do right to bounce back on Day 3 of 2nd Test vs West Indies
England were subjected to an arduous day of cricket when West Indies responded strongly in their first innings of the second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. After a quick knockout in the series opener and a total of 416 on the board to kickstart the second, the hosts were confident of a fruitful outing with the ball.
However, West Indies changed the script, making the most of a brilliant batting surface and clear skies to make England toil hard. It was far from the introduction that England desired post the Anderson-Broad era, as West Indies reached 351-5 at Stumps on Day 2.
The English bowlers were made to toil hard, particularly by the duo of Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge, who shared a mammoth partnership for the fourth wicket. The latter went on to score his maiden Test hundred to take West Indies on the cusp of England's first innings score.
West Indies forced the opposition to go back to the drawing board, and rest assured England will come out with plans up their sleeve considering how important the home season is for them.
On that note, let's take a look at three things England need to do right to bounce back on Day 3 of the second Test vs West Indies.
#1 Make the new ball count
England opted to take the second new ball ahead of the final over on Day 2. All they must do is avoid a potential repeat of what happened with the first brand-new cherry. The ball mourned the lack of Anderson's wrist position and Broad's subtle changes as it downright refused to move under the new-look England bowling attack's command.
In fact, the first five overs witnessed the least amount of ball movement in England in a decade, something which the Men in Maroon took full advantage of. Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis hardly had a challenge while opening the innings and comfortably batted out 15 overs against the new ball.
As a result, England are caught in a weird place, especially since moving the new ball in home conditions is something their pacers are almost born with. Luckily, they do have a second opportunity. A brand new ball, a brand new day will certainly uplift England. To aid their cause, there might even be a bit of cloud cover with rain predicted on Day 3 of the Test.
If Woakes, arguably England's best shot with the new ball, can get the ball to move and land some early strikes, it might help them get a slender lead and give them something to build on.
#2 Wood and Atkinson must join forces to clean up the tail
West Indies had somewhat managed to prolong both of their innings in the series opener courtesy of handy knocks by Gudakesh Motie. Although the left-arm spinner is absent from the playing XI, England cannot potentially allow that to happen again on an even larger scale, considering they are playing with such a thin lead.
The current pair of Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva have already played out close to 10 overs at the closing stages of Day 2. Apart from these two batters, the Windies have Kevin Sinclair still in the hut, who averages close to 40 in first-class cricket and has a Test fifty to his name at the Gabba.
The task of clearing out the tail will come down to the duo of Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson. The former caused a lot of trouble to the Windies batter and if he can maintain his pace, it might prove too difficult for the lower order to handle.
#3 Make the most of a flat surface the second time around
Should England make easy work of the remainder of the West Indies unit, they will have another shot with the bat to make an impact. Although Ben Stokes and Co. posted 416 runs in the first innings in 88.3 overs, it was far from their best showing with the bat. Granted the start was as perfect as it could get (barring Zak Crawley's duck), but they were allowed to put up such a score largely because of poor bowling and fielding by the West Indies.
Irrespective of whether England are leading or trailing when they begin their second innings, posting a dominant score becomes important if they are to put pressure on West Indies in the final innings. So far, the pitch has not shown any kind of deterioration, which does not rule out a successful run chase in the fourth innings, if England falter at this stage.
The potential overcast conditions may bring the West Indies bowlers a bit more into the picture, but the batters need to be brave and make the still-flat surface count rather than what is over them. Often known as the moving day, it holds true for this Test taking into account how it is placed, and England currently have control over the steering.