West Indies vs England match report: Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott dig in after Devendra Bishoo bashes a few

West Indies 299; England 74-0

Devendra Bishoo in action (GETTY IMAGES)

It was an anxious wait for England’s openers yesterday. No sooner were they mentally preparing to bat than they were unavoidably detained by West Indies’ last wicket pair.

Little affects opening batsmen more than this, especially if one of them, like Alastair Cook, is captain. He has to clear his mind of what lies ahead while working out how to take the elusive wicket.

For almost an hour Cook and his partner had to stay in the field while Devendra Bishoo and Shannon Gabriel put on 52 so that you feared the worst. But they negotiated the final passage with some aplomb, including as it did some seriously fast bowling from Shannon Gabriel. By the close England were 74 for 0, with nary an alarm in sight. Cook looked decidedly fluent and if Trott was less so he stayed put.

If Gabriel caused them to hurry, Cook particularly did not show it. He lined up the ball well and when he drove a full toss from Kemar Roach for four to pass 17, he became the second highest scorer among England batsmen in Tests, overtaking Alec Stewart’s 8,463. Only his friend and mentor Graham Gooch is ahead of him now.

As is usually the case with English cricket events off the field diverted attention to what was happening on it. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, it is possible to wonder what makes English cricket tick. A novel issue raised its improbable head yesterday.

On another rain-affected day in the second Test, England bowled out West Indies for 299, an addition of 111 to the overnight score, which would have been considerably less but for the last ditch effort. It was a total which narrowly justified the decision to bowl first but a substantial lead is still needed if England are to do what everyone expected of them and take a lead in the series.

There has never been a club-country debate in cricket. County players who are selected to play for England do so and if they are not they play for their county. Not so long ago, they played for England and in between Tests also, invariably, for their county.

England confirmed that they had refused a request by Yorkshire to release from this tour the leg-spinner Adil Rashid who has not appeared in either of the first two Tests. Yorkshire were hoping that Rashid might appear in their Championship match against potential title rivals Warwickshire on Sunday.

It is surprising that the request was made given the well-established mantra that when Yorkshire are strong, England are strong, and Yorkshire are again champions. They have six players on this tour, of whom four are not in the present Test team.

The county, whose chairman, Colin Graves, is about to become chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, are anxious to retain their title. Rashid is not a centrally contracted player but he is contracted to England for this tour.

While Yorkshire’s mild frustration can be understood, it is also clear that England must have priority. Although Rashid’s bowling was deeply disappointing in the warm-up match, before which he seemed certain to make his Test debut in Antigua, he came close to playing in the second Test and as England pointed out is in contention for the third in Barbados next week.

Allowing Yorkshire’s request would have set an unhealthy precedent. A touring party has to stick together to the end, even if only 11 members of it appear in the Test team.

England needed to finish off the West Indies tail quickly at the start of the second day. The urgency was heightened by more interruptions for rain. They started late, played for eight overs, returned after 75 minutes for 13 balls and left again.

At last, at 2pm, there were blue skies again and some immediate action. Marlon Samuels, 94 not out overnight, moved to his hundred with a four guided through the slips cordon off Jimmy Anderson.

Samuels’ elation was as evident as England’s irritation. There is no love lost between Samuels and the tourists, less than that after the Jamaican batsman offered unsolicited advice the previous evening to Ben Stokes about sledging.

Two balls later, Samuels, imagining the job to be done – his job, that is, not the team’s – drove loosely at Anderson and was caught at second slip. Of Samuels’ seven Test hundreds four have not gone beyond 105.

That breakthrough hastened the end with the second new ball and it was Stuart Broad who profited. Pitching the ball further up than he had the previous day, making the batsman play, he might have wondered why he had not tried something similar the day before.

Denesh Ramdin prodded at a ball holding its own outside off and was caught behind. He was followed by the hero of Antigua, Jason Holder, who in the space of an over survived a chance to mid-wicket when Moeen Ali was debatably judged not quite make a clean catch, pulled a second steepling six and gave Jos Buttler his third catch when he edged a drive.

Kemar Roach was caught off inside edge and pad at gully off another full ball (surprise, surprise) and West Indies had lost four wickets for 24. The last pair of Bishoo and Gabriel, with nine ducks between them in 32 Test innings, hung around more than was either to be expected or desired by England.

Bishoo brought more science to the partnership than Gabriel who clobbered happily away on the leg side and their occupation went from the irksome to maddening. It had reached 52 from 69 balls with career best scores for both men when Moeen Ali won an lbw decision against Bishoo sweeping. The review failed.

Spin should have been introduced much earlier, perhaps as soon as Gabriel lofted his first blow to mid-wicket, but Cook’s mind might have been turning to opening the batting by then.

Thus, West Indies deprived their opponents of a clean, unfussy kill and the opening batsmen can only have become more agitated. But it barely showed before the light closed in.