West Indies v England 2022 Third Test
England crumble in Grenada as West Indies seal series victory
England stumbled to yet another series defeat as a batting collapse in either innings gifted West Indies an easy run chase.
The tourists lost the toss and were put into bat by Kraigg Braithwaite, and set about falling apart almost from the get go.
Alex Lees finished with a hard fought 31, but Crawley, Root, Lawrence, Stokes, Bairstow and Foakes scored just 24 runs between them.
When Foakes was bowled by Seales, England were 67–7. Woakes and Overton rallied and made sure England at least got into three figures. When they departed, Joe Root’s men were 114–9.
This brought Saqib Mahmood to the crease with Jack Leach, and some aggressive hitting soon followed.
A fantastic tenth wicket partnership of 90 dragged England to 204, the blushes of the batters partially saved by two of England’s bowlers.
The West Indies response started strong with Braithwait and Campbell putting on 50 for the first wicket.
England did make some inroads, and wickets did start to come. When Holder departed for a duck, the hosts were 82–5 and wobbling.
The lower middle order, however, stood tall and chipped in with vital runs, topped off by Josh Da Silva’s debut century.
West Indies were eventually bundled out for 297, a very handy lead of 93.
Needing to practically reach 100 to reach parity, England’s batters stalled from the off once again.
Only three players reached double figures in a pitiful batting display, and extras ended up as England’s third top scorer with 31.
Stokes, Lawrence, Root and Crawley all failed to get out of single digits. 120 was all England could manage, leaving the West Indies a target of 28 with the best part of two days to get them in.
Obviously the hosts ticked off the runs in no time at all, and the Test and series was theirs.
The deep rot within the England Test match set up is far deeper than many initially expected.
With the series in the Caribbean now over, England are now on a run of just one win in their last 17 Test matches.
Things need to change, and at this moment in time, change feels like it’s long overdue.
