The Test Reporter said:
4th Test Match 4th Day
With the West Indies on top they will love to see that this pitch has rapidly declined with unpredictable bounce starting to sneak in with the spin, which has been quite evident all match being worse than ever.
Cook and Strauss came out with the score on 68 with no wickets lost looking to try and get what looked a mammoth total for this pitch, 346.
The day started off well for the West Indies as they restricted England from getting any runs extremely well with Sammy and Bravo being very economical. As the bowlers were changed the introduction of Mohammed on this pitch was a good one as immediately all runs dried up as he restricted the runs even further with his bowling going for less that 2 an over.
Despite the good start by the West Indies wickets didn't fall England new they had time on their side so the openers nurdled the ball around picking up ones and twos rather than going for brash shots for boundaries as they may have been slightly guilty of in the first innings.
As the West Indies toiled Strauss and Cook both brought up half centuries and took the score to 120 by the end of the first session.
Afternoon Session
The afternoon session would be the make or break session for England should the current inhabitants of the crease be able to continue the good work so far this Innings they had half a chance of winning.
The session started brightly for England with couple of Boundaries being scored off the Bowling of Bravo and Collymore.
Sadly for England trouble was ahead as Strauss fell to the bowling of Mohammed after adding 20 runs to his score from the first session. He was caught plum LBW from one which pitched on off and went straight on.
Strauss out for 85, England 179-1 Shah to the crease. With Cook at the other end going well with 89 to his name a century for him after the long wait was in touching distance but could he get it?
Well yes he could, he finally picked it up a couple of overs latter with a sweetly hit cut from the bowling of Mohammed. Shah also looked to be alot more aggressive that both Cook or Strauss as it took him a mere 20 balls to get to 20 by the time Cooks century had been brought up.
However Shah's expansive play was to be his downfall, he got pinned down for ten balls without scoring and an I'll advised slog sweep which he completely missed the ball with resulted in his LBW.
Shah out for 21, England 220-2 with over 146 runs still to get but the total becoming ever nearer.
With this dismissal brought the enigmatic Pietersen to the crease and he also decided that the best way to go forward was to hit out before getting out as he took Mohammed for 10 in two different over. He hit a breezy 30 off 40 balls before being dropped second slip, this made him go back into his shell quite significantly. Cook had complete withdrawn into his shell as well at this point and was barely scoring since picking up his century, as a total of 4 maidens were bowled consecutively from Mohammed who was qucikly becoming the pick of the bowlers.
As the game going at a snails pace was about to enter lunch a potentially decisive wicket fell that of Kevin Pietersen, who since the drop had only managed to add another 9 from the 30 balls that followed. Pietersen out caught by Devon Smith off the bowling of Mohammed with a ball that spun a tad more for 39. England 278- 3 with the score under 100 they were starting to look good for the total.
With Kp's dissmisal Collingwood came out but didn't last all that long as he got a small knick off a ball that seemed to stay straight from Mohammed but drifted away. Colly out for two but England had now reached 280-4 and would win from here surely? After playing like the pitch was very flat they must do.
Out strode Patel on the back of a good debut so far things were to sadly take a turn for the worst as after hitting a 4 first ball then a one next ball. Sadly the next ball he faced was a beauty from Bravo that got a feather of an edge on it. Ramdin did the rest, Patel out for 5, England starting to flounder 285-5 Prior in.
If England were floundering with only 89 runs left to go then with the wicket of Cook which fell they were really under the pump. Quite oddly Cook's defensiveness was to such an extent that he hadn't actually scored since quite along time back in his partnership with Pietersen. His innings ended on 122 from a colossal 350 balls. England now 287-6 with 87 more required starting to look alot less likely to reach the score. This brought the lunch break.
The Evening Session
The session started well as Prior went after the bowling in hope of trying to get the runs as quickly as possible, with Broad at the crease and only Swann to follow he realised that he needed to score before he ran out of partners.
The Prior Broad partnership added vaulable runs before Broad found himself caught on the boundary by an excellent catch by Sammy off the bowling of Mohammed who seemed to be the bowler who could perhaps give the West Indies the win they desperately craved. Broad out for 15, England 316-7. Could England do it? or would the West Indies finish the tail off quickly
The tense final to the match that was predicted suprizingly never came about. As Prior and Swann preceeded to hit the West Indies bowlers everywhere easily reaching the target as Swann hit a giant six to reach the winning runs, an anti climax to say the least but for England a happy one. Swann 21 from just 11 balls with Prior 29 from 28 balls.
England win by 3 wickets
