What A Series!!

After two outstanding Test matches between West Indies and England, the third Test matches came with historic records and many interesting moments that kept the audiences on the edge of their seats. With leveling the series by 1-1, the third Test match held from 24th to 28th July 2020 at Manchester.

Let’s dig into the third Test match between England and West Indies through the complete match updates:

West Indies wins toss

Team West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first against team England.

West Indies Playing XI

  1. Kraigg Brathwaite, 2. John Campbell, 3. Shai Hope, 4. Shamarh Brooks, 5. Roston Chase, 6. Jermaine Blackwood, 7. Shane Dowrich (wk), 8. Jason Holder, 9. Rahkeem Cornwall, 10. Kemar Roach, 11. Shannon Gabriel.

In the third Test match, only one change was there. Right-arm bowler Alzarri Joseph is replaced by off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall replaces.

England Playing XI

  1. Rory Burns, 2. Dom Sibley, 3. Joe Root (c), 4. Ben Stokes, 5. Ollie Pope, 6. Jos Buttler (wk), 7. Chris Woakes, 8. Dom Bess, 9. Jofra Archer, 10. Stuart Broad, 11. James Anderson.

From the English side, Zak Crawley and Sam Curran are replaced by James Anderson and Jofra Archer.

England vs West Indies 3rd Test, Day 1 highlights:

On Friday (24-07-2020), on day first, Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler performed in spectacular ways and scored their first big runs of the Test series by making unbeaten 136 runs to rebuild the innings of England against team West Indies and put their team on the leading position at Old Trafford. Just before tea, England scored 122-4 and concluded with 258-4, with Ollie Pope on 91 runs as he tried hard to make his second Test century and Jos Buttler on 56 runs.

England vs West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 2 highlights:

On the second day, England overnight star batsman Ollie Pope was just 9 runs away from his 2nd century and Kemar Roach required only one wicket to claim 200 Test wickets to his name. But Ollie Pope failed to add and bowled at 91 and Kemar Roach took his 200th wicket and became the ninth West Indies bowler to achieve this milestone. Stuart Broad knocked an outstanding 62 runs and played a major role in England’s scorecard and finally, England team scored 369. After England’s innings, West Indies scored 137 runs with the loss of 6 wickets. They trail by 232 runs, with the follow-on still very much in the match.

England vs West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 3 highlights:

Team England had the West Indies team struggling at 10 runs for two important wickets after setting a commanding target of 399 runs to claim a victory in the third and final Test match at Old Trafford. Again Stuart Broad dominated as he moved just one wicket away from taking 500 test wickets. In the first innings, Broad had taken four wickets of West Indies and continued that strategy by dismissing opening batsman John Campbell without scoring a single run and then Kemar Roach (4) after team West Indies were put in for last six overs of the second day. Team England announced on 226 runs for two wickets in their second innings as captain Joe Root scored 68, Rory Burns made 90 runs and Dim Sibley scored 56 runs.

England vs West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 4 highlights:

Heavy rain had washed out the complete 4th day of the Test match between England and West Indies in Manchester city. West Indies were rolling on 10/2 and team England required eight wickets to wrap up the series. Team West Indies had to chase down the 399 runs target, which was looking a really tough job against team England.

England vs West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 5 highlights:

Stuart Broad claimed his 500th Test wicket and Chris Woakes fascinated with a five-wicket haul as team England (369 & 226/2 decl) defeat team West Indies (197 & 129) by a huge run gap of 269 runs to win three-Test series 2-1 in Manchester. The complete first session was captured by Stuart Broad as he took his 500th Test wicket by dismissing Kraigg Brathwaite for 19 runs.

End of a wonderful series

International cricket resumed after the COVID-19-enforced break and concluded in quite some way. Really, it’s been a fantastic series, one game that will probably show the way for more cricket to come.