Duckett, Pope, Brook extend England’s lead over Windies

NOTTINGHAM, England – Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook hit half-centuries to lift England to 248-3 and a 207-run lead over the West Indies on the third day of the second Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Duckett scored 76, Pope 51 and Brook 71 not out as England fought back well after West Indies took a first-innings lead of 41 thanks to an entertaining partnership of 71 between Joshua Da Silva and Shamar Joseph.

England lost opener Zak Crawley for three when he was unfortunately run out at non-striker’s end after Duckett’s drive was parried on the stumps by bowler Jayden Seales.

Duckett hit 11 wickets before being trapped by Alzarri Joseph and Pope contributed again after his maiden century before being caught at gully by Kevin Sinclair off Joseph.

However, Brook and Joe Root weathered the storm in an unbroken stand of 108 and Root was 37 not out at the end.

“It was a good day’s cricket, it went back and forth a bit and that partnership at the end was a crucial one for us in terms of understanding the game,” British cricketer Chris Woakes told the BBC.

England picked up four wickets in the morning and looked set to establish a first-innings lead before Da Silva and Shamar Joseph guided West Indies to 457 all out to leave the match well poised.

Da Silva finished unbeaten on 82, including three sixes, and Joseph hit two maximums, one smashing the pavilion roof tiles on 33, before being caught by Gus Atkinson off Mark Wood.

After the West Indies had resumed on 351-5, Jason Holder was caught by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith outside Woakes for 27 and Sinclair cut Atkinson to gully where Brook took a strong catch.

Alzarri Joseph edged Woakes to Smith for 10 and the experienced England seamer bowled Seales first ball with a good delivery.

“It was an old task but I thought we held on well. I think we would have taken the last five wickets for 90 this morning,” Woakes said.

“You can always look back and think ‘we could have done this or that’ but we were pretty committed to what we wanted to do. We didn’t feel like they got away from us.”

Shamar Joseph avoided the hat-trick and Da Silva moved on to his fifth Test fifty as the pair combined to give another twist to a fluctuating game.

England won the first match of the three-Test series by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed, with no text modifications.