The Third Test Is Drawn: England Dominate But Fail To Captalise

The West Indies and England have drawn the third test in Antigua after bad light stopped play with just four overs remaining.

England started day five needing to take just seven West Indian wickets, after rain threatened to defy England of what would have been a series levelling victory.

However, only 75 minutes were lost to the weather before play started, as Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul started the West Indian defence.

England were frustrated up until after Lunch, when Sarwan, who had earlier scored a century was bowled by Stuart Broad. England chances of winning this game relied on the dismissal of both of these batsmen, and it wasn’t long before the tourists has their wish.

Chanderpaul followed the centurion to the pavilion edging to Matt Prior from Broad, and suddenly fortunes turned in England’s favour.

The Nottinghamshire bowler was in fine form this afternoon, and has been the prime England seemer of the tour, as Steve Harmisson and James Anderson struggle for form.

With the ‘tail’ exposed after the double dismissal it was down the youngsters in the West Indian side to stake there claim in the side, and they start to frustrate the England bowlers.

England were getting desperate, and turned to injured bowler Andrew Flintoff to produce a wicket. Clearly bowling in huge pain, from a hip injury picked up on day four he dug away at the lower order, but to avail as he ended the day wicket-less.

England couldn’t force anymore host wickets until tea, when Brendan Nash was left glued to his crease by Graeme Swann.

James Anderson then bowled Denesh Ramdin and Sullimen Benn succumbed to Swann, and with still 14 scheduled overs remaining the possibility of a win was still alive, even if the light was closing in

Darren Powell and Fidel Edwards were able to hold out for just under 10 overs as the West Indies drew a match they didn’t look likely to even feature in at the start of the day.

After dominating for five full days, England will be thoroughly disappointed to have let victory slip from their grasp, and especially for captain Andrew Strauss whose tactical decisions are sure to be scrutinised after this latest failure.

Again like in the previous test there was a fine line between brilliant West Indian resilience and poor England decision-making, and either conclusion could be made. At the end of the day England should have won the match, plain and simple.

They dominated for five days, and never was there a point in the match where you could admit West Indies had a chance to win the match.

Critics may well look at the decision not to enforce the follow-on after bowling the West Indies out for less than 300, on what was seen as a batsman’s wicket, a factor that of course would work against England bowling in the fourth innings of the match.

Strauss had the West Indies just where he wanted them, and when the pressure could have been applied, he relented. And for this he has to take some responsibility for the lack of a result.

England bowlers, who are usually the focal point of the criticism, played their hearts out on a pitch that was never going to produce quick wickets. We have to remember that England did take nine West Indian wickets, so there was a fine line between victory and the resulting draw.

I’ve always been behind England’s new captain, I was even behind him being appointed after Michael Vaughan’s departure, but even I will admit Strauss has to take a fair share of the blame.

However, for the West Indies, it has shown just how far they’ve come over the last 18-months. On previous occasions the side would have wilted and let England walk over them on the final day.

To add to that we saw some of the younger players step up the plate with the bat, something we haven’t seen in the series so far. Once Sarwan and Chanderpaul were dismissed it seemed like a matter of time until England secured the game.

However the likes of Benn, Powell, who did well as a night watchman in the first innings and Edwards were resilient enough to keep England at bay. It was good to see from a West Indian point of view that there is more to the side than the two talented middle-order batsman.

Overall its very difficult to see how England did convert pure dominance into the all important test win.

England took every one of their opportunities, which were hardly at a premium and the entire team put in a fine performance, and maybe more importantly a huge improvement from the previous test in Jamaica.

It was positive to see changes for this third test, and both Owais Shah and Graeme Swann were magnificent, in-particular Swann who contributed with both the ball and bat.

I think the reason for the draw probably lies at Strauss’ feet. A sooner declaration in the second innings I don’t think would have made a difference, because the time scale would have very small.

All but four of the overs on the last day were bowled, so even though 75 minutes were lost it made no difference, the overs were made up.

It all comes down to the option not to enforce the follow on and push the lead beyond 500. They held a lead of 281 after the first innings were over, and at the rate at which the West Indies were batting, or be it slightly more defensively would have left the side with around 100 runs to win, and around 50 overs to complete it.

However, being just one wicket from victory means such criticism can’t be too harsh towards the Middlesex man.

Whether the momentum has shifted towards the forth test is hard to tell, as the West Indies celebration did reflect the disappointment on the faces of the England team, but they have certainly had a resurgence to form.

England know they have to win the forth test starting on Thursday to keep the series alive, and with both sides going into the match in high spirits it could be another thriller in Barbados.