England wrapped up a nine-wicket victory over the West Indies after a magical morning from James Anderson and a ruthless chase from Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance secured the second Test last night.
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Anderson, who became England’s leading Test wicket-taker in the Antigua Test last week, was in effervescent form as he played a decisive role in six consecutive wickets to inspire his side on a flat pitch in Grenada.
England were left to chase 143, with Cook (59 not out) and Ballance (81 not out) both scoring their second half-centuries of the match to hand the tourists a 1-0 series lead for the loss of one wicket.
Ballance’s knock took him past 1,000 Test runs in his 17th innings, a remarkable achievement as just eight men have done better in the history of the game. Only two of those are Englishmen, with Ballance bettered only by Herbert Sutcliffe and Sir Len Hutton.
Yet things might have looked very different at stumps had it not been for Anderson’s magnetic display in the first session.
He triggered a collapse which saw the home side lose eight wickets for 83 runs after they resumed in the comfortable position of 202 for two with opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite on 101 and first innings century-maker Marlon Samuels at the crease.
Anderson made full use of the second new ball in the morning session, removing Brathwaite for 116 with a sharp lifter that was fended to gully.
“That spell from James Anderson took the Test away from us” – Denesh Ramdin #WIvEng pic.twitter.com/1zcrEMIEun
— ICC (@ICC) April 25, 2015
He then added the other key wickets of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, via an excellent reflex-action taken by Cook at first slip on the rebound from second slip fielder Ian Bell, and Marlon Samuels to finish with the excellent figures of four for 43 off 22 overs.
He also held two catches at mid-off and ran out Jason Holder, the man whose maiden first-class century denied England victory in the first Test in Antigua a week earlier, with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.
That dismissal effectively ended any realistic chance the West Indies had of saving the match and it was left to off-spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali to finish off the innings by taking the last three wickets.
