Joe Root passes 150, Matt Fisher claims maiden Test wicket with second ball
Valkerie Baynes17-Mar-2022Ben Stokes made a welcome return to the ranks of Test centurion with a belligerent display against West Indies as England set a commanding first-innings total.It had been well over 18 months and 23 Test innings without a ton for Stokes and much has happened in that time – from losing his beloved father, Ged, to a four-and-a-half-month absence from the game during which he had two operations to repair a serious finger injury and took time out to manage his mental health. But once he got going on the second morning in Barbados, it was something to behold.He struck four sixes and 11 fours as he reached 89 off just 92 balls by lunch, having started the day on nought after Dan Lawrence fell on the last ball of the opening day.A quieter period ensued after the interval as Kemar Roach and Jason Holder put the lid on England’s scoring for a time, but Stokes went out swinging once more, for 120, after bringing up his 11th Test hundred with a scampered single and celebrating with his crooked-fingered salute to the heavens in memory of his dad, who died in December 2020. Stokes’ last Test century had come against West Indies at Old Trafford in July of that year.Meanwhile, his captain, Joe Root, was at the other end of the pitch for the most part, during a 129-run partnership for the fourth wicket, having brought up his second consecutive Test century the evening before, his eighth in 19 Tests since the start of 2021.Root ended up with 153 on this occasion, before leaving Stokes to carry on and then seeing a 75-run seventh-wicket stand between Chris Woakes and Ben Foakes, allowing him to on 507 for 9 shortly after tea.Debutant Matthew Fisher, drafted into the squad after the Ashes debacle and handed his chance when Craig Overton fell ill on the eve of this match, struck with just his second ball in international cricket before Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks resisted further damage to steer West Indies to 71 for 1 at the close.Having seen John Campbell thread his first ball to the rope through backward point, Fisher elicited a prod outside off-stump and the ball flew off the toe-end of Campbell’s bat to Foakes behind the stumps. Poignantly, as he celebrated his maiden Test wicket, Fisher raised his finger skyward in tribute to his own father, Phil, who died when Matthew was just 14.Fisher thought he had his second wicket when Brooks jabbed in the direction of second slip, where Zak Crawley stooped very low to grab the ball in his fingertips, although he came up looking uncertain as to whether it had been grounded in the process and replays showed it had, confirming the not-out soft signal.Brathwaite was then given out lbw on 14, Jack Leach skidding one into his back pack – but not before it had grazed the bat, as the DRS confirmed to reprieve West Indies’ captain.Earlier, Stokes and Root had England innings looking like London buses as they carried their side past 300. That mark had evaded them for 12 innings and more than six months, until the first Test in Antigua, when they racked up 311 and 349 for 6 declared.Matt Fisher struck with his second ball in Test cricket•Getty Images
Having begun the day on 244 for 3, with Root on 119, Stokes lit up the morning. He twice advanced on left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul to launch him down the ground for six in consecutive overs, bringing up his fifty in the second instance. He later muscled Permaul over the fence at midwicket before clubbing the very next ball over cover for four.Stokes took to Alzarri Joseph in the following over with three consecutive fours, bringing up the 100-partnership with Root via a powerful drive through cover before launching him over long-off and through midwicket. But Stokes wasn’t done, passing 5000 Test runs with a mow down the ground to clear the fence by some distance.Root passed 150 for the 12th time in his career, the most by any England batter, but then Roach, with his first ball back into the attack and the seventh after lunch, ended his stay with one that nipped back from outside off and rapped the front pad. Initially adjudged not out by umpire Nigel Duguid, the hosts reviewed and Hawk-Eye showed the ball crashing into the top of leg stump to move Roach past Sir Garry Sobers and clear into seventh on West Indies’ list of all-time wicket-takers.Jonny Bairstow crashed Jayden Seales down the ground and through the covers before holing out to deep midwicket off Joseph, and with that Stokes threw the bat again. He heaved Brathwaite over the fence at deep midwicket for his first boundary since lunch, some 13.2 overs after the resumption, and was very nearly out on the next ball, lofting Brathwaite to long-on, where Campbell spilled a tough chance while stepping on the rope. Stokes came undone going big again one ball later, this time skying Brathwaite to Brooks at long-off.West Indies took three wickets for eight runs in the space of 14 balls, prompting Root to call his men in six overs into the evening session. Permaul, who had come in for some tough treatment, particularly at the hands of Stokes, had Foakes and Leach stumped by Joshua Da Silva to bookend Woakes’ dismissal, sending Roach high into the air on the leg side to be caught by Seales.
