England vs West Indies analysis: Tourists find Joe Root flaw, middle order breaks hearts and more

Root departs for 72 as he edges behind off Gabriel
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Tom Collomosse28 August 2017

England will begin day five clear favourites to seal that victory that will bring a series win over West Indies thanks to Moeen Ali’s brilliant counter-attacking innings.

The tourists had the edge for most of the first four days of this match but wilted when it mattered, and will resume on day five on five without loss, requiring 317 more runs to take an unlikely win, with England already 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Moeen will be expected to add to the 27 wickets he had already taken in Tests before this match but he has already played a vital hand with the bat.

When the all-rounder came in, England led by 158 and had only three second-innings wickets remaining.

Moeen was unfazed, delivering a typically stylish effort to make 84 from only 93 deliveries. He was supported by half-centuries from Mark Stoneman, Joe Root, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes, while Chris Woakes finished 61 not out as England eventually declared their innings 490 for eight.

Can England wrap up the win? Or will the West Indies upset the odds? Looking ahead to the challenge, Standard Sport assesses the main talking points from another absorbing day.

Have West Indies found a flaw in Root?

Root now has one more Test half-century – 32 – than Alastair Cook has hundreds. This was Root’s 59th Test, Cook’s 146th, so it will torment Root to think how many of those fifties he should have converted into three-figure scores. Sure enough, the England captain made 72 on Monday, his second fifty of the match – but the tourists think they have spotted a technical weakness in which Australia will undoubtedly be interested.

Root looks slightly vulnerable playing off the back foot to a delivery at about hip-height or slightly above. In the first over, he edged two such deliveries through the gap at third slip, and was eventually out caught at gully trying to cut another. Root works ferociously hard at his game and with the Ashes around the corner, the skipper will be spending plenty of time in the nets.

England lower-order holds the key

England are far from the perfect team. Indeed, they still have doubts about three top order spots with only one Test remaining before an Ashes series in Australia. Yet the way their lower middle-order can destroy the morale of opponents is quite a sight. When Ali walked out to bat at No8, Jonny Bairstow had been bowled by Roston Chase attempting an ambitious reverse-sweep, and England’s lead was only 158.

How many No8s in world cricket can regularly change the balance of a match with the bat? This was his third fifty in six Tests this summer, a valuable contribution even without his 27 wickets with the ball. True, Moeen had some luck on 32, when he was caught behind off Devendra Bishoo but reprieved by a dubious no-ball call, but he deserved it for the style and substance of his innings.

He put on 117 with Woakes, another who breaks the hearts of adversaries when he comes in at No9, including 87 from 17 overs after tea. When Moeen was out for 84, the lead was 275 and the job looked well and truly done.

Is Malan the man?

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There are two ways of looking at Malan’s innings, in which he took four hours and 39 minutes to score 61. One view is that it was one of the most uncomfortable, painful Test fifties you will see this year, in which Malan was also dropped at first slip by Kieran Powell when he had 32. Another is that Malan showed determination and bravery to make an important contribution for England, who were still 75 runs short of making West Indies bat again when he took guard on Sunday afternoon.

Although Malan never sparkled, he put on 118 for the fourth wicket with Root, before adding 91 for the fifth with Ben Stokes. When Malan played inside a delivery from Roston Chase that turned sharply and hit middle and off, England led by 143 and he had laid the platform that allowed Moeen to start the dash for home.

This was a far more important knock than the 68 Malan made in the rout at Edgbaston earlier this month, and even though he has technical flaws, it looks as though the 29-year-old has the mental strength to prosper at this level.

Windies can’t find the finishing line

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Teams who are not used to winning make crucial errors when they are in a position to do so. So it is that West Indies dropped seven catches in this match, at an overall cost of 235 runs, and there were more subtle mistakes, too. Why, for instance, did Kraigg Brathwaite, the vice-captain, bowl the first over after tea?

The tourists used Brathwaite in order to move Devendra Bishoo, their leg-spinner, to bowl from the Pavilion End, yet surely it would have been wiser to use a specialist bowler already in rhythm, or wait another couple of overs to switch Bishoo? Brathwaite’s first delivery was a looping full toss, despatched to the boundary for four by Moeen, and it established a pattern for the session: assertive, dominant England batting and inconsistent bowling and fielding from West Indies.

Whatever the result, though, West Indies should take heart from this match. England are clear favourites but after the debacle at Edgbaston, where England won by an innings in under three days, they have achieved far more than most thought possible here.

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