Bresnan urges caution despite tearing through West Indies
ENGLAND’S seam attack ripped through West Indies’ top order during the second Test at Trent Bridge yesterday evening, yet three-wicket star Tim Bresnan has warned against complacency ahead of today’s play.
The visitors were on 61-6 at stumps after a 26 over onslaught. With England having reached 428 runs in their first innings, captain Darren Sammy’s men are just three runs ahead with four wickets to spare.
Bresnan celebrated three lbw decisions before umpire Aleem Dar called stumps, but later advised his team-mates not to get carried away.
“We know Sammy and [Marlon] Samuels can put a stand on; we’ve still got a lot of work ahead to get those wickets,” Bresnan said. “There’s still a lot of hard work to do.”
This morning Sammy and Samuels, who put on a double-century stand in the first innings, will be hoping to fare better than their colleagues who were toppled in quick succession by England’s swing.
“We like to use anything we can, whether it’s swing, a little bit or seam or reverse, and it just happens it was reverse today that got us those wickets,” Bresnan added.
West Indies’ second innings began with England leading by only 58 runs, and a hard-fought draw appearing to be within the visitors’ reach. But the home side struck in the third over, when a ball from James Anderson struck the wicket of left-handed batsman Kieran Powell.
Two overs later and Anderson had a brace, catching the other opening batsman, Adrian Barath, lbw.
Two wickets down with only 14 runs on the board, West Indies looked towards Darren Bravo and the experienced hands of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
England’s seam attack continued to terrorise the batsmen, however, and the highly coveted wicket of Chanderpaul came when he top-edged a pull shot which looped into the grateful clutch of Jonathan Trott out at the deep fine leg boundary.
The shot, played off a Stuart Broad delivery, was uncharacteristic of the usually obdurate Chanderpaul, who had scored 224 runs in his previous three innings of the series.
Having watched his colleagues Anderson and Broad share the initial glory, Bresnan then stepped up to put England in a prominent position to claim victory in today’s fourth day of the Test.
Bravo was the first to go, caught out by a short ball that kept low and thumped into his pad in front of the wicket.
With only 50 runs on the board, wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin survived an lbw appeal from Stuart Broad. But his luck was short-lived, as he was soon caught out by Bresnan’s reverse-swing to leave his team on 61-5.
Ramdin was replaced at the wicket by Kirk Edwards, who had dropped down the order following a bout of flu. And Edwards’ discomfort was immediately felt as he was bowled for a duck from only his second ball, with Bresnan again the man reeling away in celebration as the umpire raised his finger for lbw.
It was Bresnan’s seventh wicket of the second Test, the 27 year old having taken only one wicket from 56 overs in the first Test at Lord’s.