A sensational second day in the first Test between West Indies and England at Kensington Oval was highlighted by spectacular bowling as a whopping 18 wickets fell to leave the Windies in the drivers’ seat with three days remaining.
The Windies, who started the day on 264 for 8, were bowled out for 289 with Shimron Hetmyer the last man out. He started the day on 56 and was dismissed for a top-score of 81.
James Anderson ended with 5 for 46 to draw level with Ian Botham on England’s list of most five-wicket hauls (27) while Ben Stokes finished with 4 for 59.
The visitors in their response were ripped apart for a mere 77 in 30.2 overs with Kemar Roach bagging 5 for 17 in a blistering 27 ball spell where he conceded just 4 runs while removing Johnny Bairstow, Rory Burns, Joe Root, Jos Butler and Moeen Ali.
He was supported by Jason Holder who grabbed 2 for 15 and Alzari Joseph who picked up 2 for 20.
Keaton Jennings (17) and Sam Curran (14) were the leading batsmen for England who were crashing to their 4th lowest total against West Indies and the lowest score by any Test team at Kensington.
Meanwhile the Windies with a 212 run advantage, batting a second time, lost 5 wickets for 9 runs after an opening stand of 52 between Kraigg Braithwaite who got 24 and John Campbell who added 33.
A comfortable 60 for 2 quickly became 61 for 5 when 4 wickets went crashing for 1 run as Campbell, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase and Shai Hope got caught in the onslaught.
Shimron Hetmeyer was also among the casualties as the Windies battled to the close at 127 for 6 for an overall lead of 339 runs. Shane Dowrich (27) and Windies skipper Holder (7) the not out batsmen.
Moeen Ali (3-41), Ben Stokes (2-31) and Sam Curran (1-28) are the wicket-takers for England.
Scores: West Indies 289 and 127 for 6, England 77.