(Pope 121; A Joseph 3-98) (Root 122, Brook 109; Seales 4-97) (Hodge 120; Woakes 4-84) (Bashir 5-41) Set 385 to win or four sessions to save the game, West Indies disintegrated from 61-0 to 82-5 in a manic blur of five wickets in six overs. Chris Woakes twice found the edge to remove openers Mikyle Louis and Kraigg Brathwaite, and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir bowled a magical spell to claim 3-8 in 15 deliveries. From there, the only question was whether the game would last until Monday.
Mark Wood bounced out Kevin Sinclair, Gus Atkinson struck twice in three balls and Bashir took the final two wickets to end with 5-41. West Indies were 143 all out and beaten by 241 runs. All this came after Joe Root and Harry Brook each made centuries to lay the platform for England’s victory push.
Root’s 122 was his 32nd Test hundred, one short of Sir Alastair Cook’s England record, while Brook added 109 for his first Test ton in this country. West Indies’ target might have been larger had England not lost 7-96, but the regular fall of home wickets also gave Ben Stokes’ side enough time to wrap up the game with a day to spare. It gives England their first series win since the tour of Pakistan in 2022.
They will look for a 3-0 clean sweep when the final Test begins at Edgbaston on Friday. The rapid way this match unravelled in the final session of the fourth day was at odds with everything that came before, when these teams had wrestled for control. Even with the runs Root and Brook sco.