West Indies off-spinner Roston Chase destroyed England with career-best figures of eight for 60 as the West Indies defeated the visitors by 381 runs to win the first Test at Kensington Oval on Saturday. Set the improbable target of 628 to win, the tourists slid to ignominious defeat on the fourth day, losing their last six wickets for 31 runs to be dismissed for 246. It was the largest margin of victory by the West Indies on home soil and third largest anywhere in their 91 years as a Test-playing nation.
Chase made the most of a fourth day pitch showing more signs of wear but also benefited from poor shot selection by an England side that looked shell-shocked from the events of the previous two days when they were routed for just 77 in their first innings. They then saw the West Indies mass 415 for six declared in the second innings with captain Jason Holder starring with an unbeaten double-century and wicketkeeper-batsman Shane Dowrich contributing 116 not out in an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 295.
Chase joined an elite list of West Indies’ bowlers with eight wickets or more. He did not extract a great deal of turn from the pitch, but flighted the ball beautifully and, aided by some poor England batting, emerged with the figures of eight for 60. Chase’s first wicket was perhaps his best and most important, clean bowling Rory Burns for 84 with a ball that found the gate between bat and pad. Only Jack Noreiga - 9/95 versus India at Port of Spain in 1971 - has taken more than eight wickets in an innings for West Indies. Chase joined a list with eight wickets that also comprises Colin Croft, Lance Gibbs, Curtley Ambrose, Devendra Bishoo, Shannon Gabriel, Michael Holding and Alf Valentine.
Cook questions England’s preparations for tour
Former England captain Alastair Cook has questioned the team’s preparations for their West Indies tour. “Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail. That has become a cliche in sport but overuse does not erode its essential truth. Look at England over four days in Bridgetown,” Cook wrote in his column. “They didn’t have their fighting edge, and that is not surprising when you consider their pre-Test schedule.”
