Windies beat England in the gloom

LEEDS, Wednesday- West Indies pulled off a special victory when they beat England by five wickets to win the second Test at Headingley on Tuesday to level the three-match series 1-all.

Chasing a total of 322 for victory West Indies buoyed by Shai Hope’s second century of the match got there in the gloom with the threat of bad light always hovering around their run chase.

Hope became the first batsman to score two 100s in same first-class match at Headingley and with Brathwaite who made 95, put on 144 for third wicket.

Both batsmen were given lives by former captain Alastair Cook who dropped Hope at 106 and Brathwaite at 4. West Indies’ run chase was the 20th best fourth-innings chase and the third best in England. It was their first win in England in 17 years.

Scores: England 258 and 490-8 decl.

West Indies 427 and 322-5 (Brathwaite 95, Hope 118 n.o., Chase 30, Blackwood 41, Ali 2/76)

England finally saw the back of Kraigg Brathwaite for 95 but Shai Hope was still at the crease as the West Indies remained in the hunt for a stunning win, as a dramatic second Test at Headingley headed towards a thrilling conclusion.

West Indies were 199 for three, needing a further 123 runs in a minimum of 35 overs to reach a target of 322, at tea on Tuesday's fifth day.

Shai Hope was 74 not out and Roston Chase two not out. Brathwaite narrowly failed to become the first batsman to make hundreds in both innings of a first-class match at Headingley when the opener was caught at slip by Ben Stokes off spinner Moeen Ali for 95 shortly before tea.

Together with Hope, he put on 144 for the third wicket.

The pair had shared a stand of 246 in West Indies' first innings, with Hope making 147 -- his maiden Test century -- and Brathwaite 134. But the West Indies will head into the final session still in with a chance of just their fourth away Test win, excluding fixtures against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, in 88 matches spanning 20 years.

England lead this three-match series 1-0 after thrashing the West Indies by an innings and 209 runs in the first Test at Edgbaston.

At lunch, the odds were still against the West Indies levelling this three-match series at 1-1 given only Australia, with 404 for three back in 1948, have made more in the fourth innings to win a Test at Headingley than 322.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.