There were some raised eyebrows when England named an unchanged XI for this third Test against West Indies; eyebrows that wondered why, in a summer of supposed renewal for their bowling attack, and with the series win already secured, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum had opted against blooding another rookie.
The logic went that with three more Tests against Sri Lanka to come following a pause for the Hundred, chances for the likes of Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington would emerge organically. Mark Wood’s scorching pace had put the frighteners up the tourists at Trent Bridge, while Chris Woakes, their banker in English conditions, was returning to his home ground. They also wanted another look at Gus Atkinson to find out how the 26-year-old would cope physically playing his third Test match in the space of three weeks.
Pretty, pretty good was the Larry David answer to that question as, roared on by 25,000 increasingly well-oiled Brummies on this latest sold-out day of Test cricket, Atkinson helped bowl out West Indies for 282 in 75.1 overs on a flat pitch. He claimed figures four for 67 from 20 with more of the zippy wicket-to-wicket hustle that either challenges batters outside off stump or roughs them up with a touch of the short stuff. Atkinson now has 20 wickets from his first five Test innings in what is proving a breakout summer.
Like his opposite number, Kraigg Brathwaite, Stokes also hoped to have a bat at the start of the day and through the efforts of his seamers – Woakes picking up three wickets and his old mate Wood snaring a couple more – the England captain eventually got his wish.
Not that it necessarily worked out as pictured. At stumps the hosts were 38 for three, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett falling to the new ball in the space of two deliveries and Wood, the nightwatchman, offering just eight balls defiance.
For West Indies, it was another day on this tour that highlighted how far experience goes in this game given their three highest scorers were also their highest capped.
Brathwaite chiselled out 61 from the top of the order and helped put on 76 with Mikyle Louis, the highest opening stand in England by a West Indian pair since 2007. And after a collapse of five for 39 either side of lunch, Jason Holder, with 59, and Joshua Da Silva, pushed back for two hours of impressive graft that prevented things going south completely.
It followed a morning session that promised so much for West Indies, the crowd settling into their seats in good time and watching Brathwaite and Louis hold firm for the best part of 22 overs before Atkinson, in his second spell, finally persuaded the latter to nibble at one in the channel. An end finally opened up, Atkinson and Wood then preyed on uncertainty from the newcomers to see West Indies stutter to 97 for three at lunch.
Stokes happily entertained the notion that Wood might breach the 100mph mark before this Test but if anything, the speeds were a touch down on Trent Bridge. Still, hovering around the 90mph mark is plenty good enough for many, not least the struggling Kirk McKenzie. He swatted three early fours but heard his middle stump uprooted by an inswinger before Alick Athanaze pulled a short ball from Atkinson onto his woodwork.
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The afternoon was also lop-sided but this time the other way around. After Wood strangled Brathwaite down leg with a short-ball – Jamie Smith just about clinging on – and Woakes convinced Kavem Hodge to shoulder arms to a straight one, West Indies were 115 for five and potentially circling the drain. Step forward Holder and Da Silva, who repelled a working over with the short ball and, in the case of the former, biffed some handsome blows down the ground off Shoaib Bashir to close out the session.
In the end it took a fine setup from Woakes after tea to break their resistance, swinging the 62-over-old Dukes ball into the pads of Da Silva for a stifled lbw appeal and then immediately finding the edge with the one that went away. Some folks say Woakes will not make it to Australia in 18 months time and so should have been passed over this summer but England, still in the results business at home, see things differently.
Atkinson, meanwhile, looks a promising fit for the end goal of this project and after Woakes profited from Alzarri Joseph’s wild hack, he offered two more chunks of evidence. The ball to bowl a well set Holder was a beauty, angling into the right-hander and snaking away to beat the outside edge and hit the bullseye. His removal of Gudakesh Motie was simply a snorter, the ball deflecting over Smith only for Joe Root, running round from slip, to hold on with a diving effort.
But once Bashir finally wrapped up the West Indies innings came something of a sting in the tail for England; a reminder that a hard new ball can transcend a flat pitch. Jayden Seales roared back from that sub-par performance in Nottingham with two wickets and Joseph clean bowled Duckett. It sees Root and Ollie Pope set to resume on the second morning, this Test match having already moved considerably.