That’s all she wrote!

England

507/9d & 185/6d

West Indies

(Target 282) 411 & 135/5

If you are into the slam-bam, thank you mam kind of stuff, the second Test Match played between West Indies and England at the Kensington Oval in Barbados was not for you.

The cricket match was slow going but enthralling to the point when the game ended in stalemate on the fifth and final evening.

Thanks to captain Brathwaite, the Windies fans cry, while the barmy army mourns his stout defense, which held their English team at bay.

Joe Root admitted that he could have acted “a bit braver” with his declaration, but the Jamaican saying, “cowad man kip soun’ bone,” could be used for comfort.

Root left his side two sessions to take 10 wickets on the final day by setting the hosts 282 in 65 overs.

But West Indies did not attempt the chase, captain Kraigg Brathwaite making 56 not out with his wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva at the opposite end with 30 not out, batted for a draw.

“It’s frustrating not to win, but the way we played was a brilliant effort on a very placid surface,” said Root.

“We could have maybe been a bit braver with the declaration, but it feels like a faster scoring ground here,” added England captain Root.

“I thought they might have a little go [at chasing], but it wasn’t the case.”

“It was annoying how good he was,” Root said of Brathwaite. “He played brilliantly in both innings and didn’t give us many opportunities. He ground us down. He’s an ideal player for a pitch like that. He takes it deep time and time again. He had a clear game-plan and stuck to it very well. It’s frustrating, but there’s a lot of respect for the way he went about it.

“It did feel like a new-ball wicket, you needed to really make an impact while the ball was harder, but after three brilliant breakthroughs, we unfortunately couldn’t quite kick on,” Root added.

“Credit to West Indies, they fought very hard in two brilliant Test matches, and it should be a brilliant final one of the series,” he said further.

On the other hand, after having batted for a total of 15 hours and 45 minutes across his two innings and been on the field of play for all but 21 overs, Brathwaite said, “I’ve put in a lot of work over the years, and to do it at home is a quite pleasant feeling, especially having family here, so I’m very happy and thankful.”

He further said, “It was good that, after England put up 500, we as a team could fight and put 400 back.”

“That’s the attitude we want, and the fans want to see. Once you continuously have the right attitude, our Test [results] will go up.

“In periods we could [be more attacking], but spending time at the crease and batting through three new balls is a great start for us. We need to just learn as quick as possible on the job, and improve at different periods of the game,” he added.

So, after playing on two wretched surfaces to a nil-nil draw, both teams will now move on to St. Georges for the final encounter in the three-match Test series.

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Readers Bureau, Contributor

Edited by Jesus Chan

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