West Indies 123
England 46-4
Stokes takes six for 22 after Anderson moves on to 499 wickets
The run-drenched sunshine of Leeds was replaced by the devilish gloom of Lord’s, the glowering skies that have pace bowlers salivating, but still the cricket was captivating and fluctuating wildly. It was a bowler’s picnic. Fourteen wickets fell on the first day, the most at Lord’s since the Ashes Test of 2005, and each one had the balance of the match – and the series – juddering back and forth.
When West Indies were bowled out for 123 Headingley seemed like a mirage but when the players left the field for bad light – despite the blazing floodlights – England were 46 for four, which represented something of a recovery since their fourth wicket fell at 24. Both Alastair Cook and Joe Root have come and gone; more predictably so have Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley. So England will need another lower-order revival if they are to gain a first-innings lead. In the gloaming Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes at least hinted this might be possible.
Perversely the sun made an appearance only at the toss, when Jason Holder opted to bat. Then under heavy cloud cover the West Indies were bundled out with a wine-dark Duke by England bowlers who enticed the ball to change direction as rapidly as a slalom skier. The chief destroyer of the tourists was Stokes, the invisible man on the fifth day at Headingley, who ruthlessly snatched career-best figures of six for 22.
The clatter of wickets had nothing to do with the fairy rings that have invaded the Lord’s square this autumn. It was a day when the ball swung deviously late in its flight path. In such conditions Jimmy Anderson would be expected to take more than two wickets but that was all he finished with, to the frustration of many who had come to celebrate and pay tribute.
At the start Anderson needed three wickets to reach 500 in Test cricket. Having dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite and Kyle Hope early on there was every chance that one of the West Indies tailenders would have the privilege of being in the picture that would bedeck the morning papers. But it was not to be. Devendra Bishoo, marooned at Anderson’s end, played and missed ball after ball while at the other end Stokes ruthlessly polished off the tail by taking three wickets in six deliveries just after tea.
No doubt Stokes was as mystified as anyone at being ignored for so long at Headingley, where he bowled only five overs in the West Indies second innings. Here it was impossible for Joe Root to take the ball out of his hands. It soon became apparent that the ball was swinging for him and after some reconnaissance Stokes got his line and length right. He bowled full, crucially fuller than Anderson, because the ball was swinging so much and this helped him to grab five of the last six wickets.
As at Headingley he was required to bowl only one spell but this one lasted for 14.3 overs and was interrupted only by the tea interval. The force was with him and it may be that Root would not have been able to persuade him to relinquish the ball anyway. Wisely he did not try.
At the start the Headingley hangover continued for a while as Cook dropped Brathwaite again in Anderson’s second over. But this was not such a costly aberration. Brathwaite added only seven more runs before edging to Jonny Bairstow. Soon after an astute piece of keeping disposed of Kyle Hope. This time the ball was heading for Cook after Hope had failed to remove his bat quickly enough and Bairstow took the precaution of diving to his right to take the catch in front of his fallible first slip.
There followed the solitary half-century stand of the day between Kieran Powell and Shai Hope, which was punctuated by several silky boundaries. Then Toby Roland-Jones struck twice from his favourite Pavilion End. Cook, to universal relief, held a catch – and he would take a better one later off Stokes – to dismiss Hope before the Middlesex seamer bowled Jermaine Blackwood, who was playing one of his typically extravagant shots at the time.
By now Stokes was swinging the ball dangerously. He gathered a dexterous caught-and-bowled chance in his follow through to dismiss Powell and then ran through the tail in a flash, aided by a superb diving catch at fourth slip by Anderson. It looked like job done for the day by Stokes except that he was soon taking guard with another rescue mission required.
Within 15 overs England were four down. Stoneman nibbled outside off-stump against Kemar Roach and was caught behind; Cook was defeated in the same way but by a better ball after Roach had switched to the Pavilion End. Then Holder intervened. Westley was lbw again.
Root correctly counselled against a review and then joined his colleague in the dressing room at the beginning of Holder’s next over when he edged to first slip, where Powell, who has also been fallible in that position, held the best catch of the day. Tormented batsmen are desperate for sunshine. There is not much of that expected on Friday.
Day 2
West Indies 123 & 93/3
England 194
England's deciding Test match against West Indies remains delicately poised after the tourists ended day two at Lord's on 93-3, a lead of 22 runs.
After the morning session was reduced to 4.2 overs by rain, Ben Stokes, dropped on 24, made 60 from 74 balls.
Stuart Broad hammered two sixes in a cameo 38 as England, who were 24-4 on Thursday, reached 194 for a lead of 71.
James Anderson struck in the third over to reach 500 Test wickets, and dismissed Kieran Powell (45) late on.
Anderson, in his 129th Test, is the first England bowler - and only the third seamer - to have reached 500. Just five men, all of whom have retired, have taken more in 140 years of Test cricket.
The composed Shai Hope, who now has 329 runs in the series, finished the day on 35 as West Indies target their first Test series win in England since 1988, when their bowling attack featured Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose.
England profit from fielding blemishes
West Indies took the wicket of Dawid Malan in the short period of play possible during the morning, the left-hander caught behind off the persevering Kemar Roach for 20.
But, after the long rain delay, the tourists gave Stokes a reprieve when Kyle Hope could not hang on to a sharp edge diving to his left at second slip, with the score 65-5.
It would have been a straightforward catch to third slip, but the Windies had only two stationed there for the England all-rounder.
Stokes, who produced his Test best bowling figures of 6-22 on day one, gave further evidence of his maturity as a batsman to reach his 12th Test fifty, a perfect blend of attack and defence including 10 fours and 10 singles.
He was bowled through the gate by a Shannon Gabriel no-ball - one of six the burly paceman sent down. Gabriel managed to atone two deliveries later with an almost identical, but legal, delivery.
Toby Roland-Jones was later spilled by wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich on 11 and, though he only added two more, the fielding side looked deflated.
Their mood was not improved by the defiance of Broad, who adopted a cavalier attitude with some remarkable, unorthodox shots to help add 60 for the final two wickets.
Imperious Anderson reaches milestone
With England all out, the stage was set for Anderson.
The conditions were not as favourable as in the murky evening of the first day, but the 35-year-old Lancastrian produced a classic inswinger in the third over to rattle back Kraigg Brathwaite's middle pole.
Powell was missed early in his innings by Stokes off Broad, but the latter soon dismissed Kyle Hope, who has made only four runs in his past four Test innings.
Hope unsuccessfully reviewed the decision - his day summed up by the replay showing it had ticked all three boxes in the appeal process.
Clouds increased under the floodlights but Stokes was initially unable to find the same elaborate swing that had bamboozled the tourists 24 hours earlier.
And with Powell and Headingley double centurion Shai Hope looking comfortable, the Windies calmly erased England's advantage.
But Anderson struck again in dramatic evening light with a delivery that swung in to left-hander Powell to pitch on middle stump and seam away to clip the off bail.
With a rainbow visible in charcoal-coloured clouds over the Mound Stand, Stokes jagged one in sharply to the pads of key man Hope, and England gambled unsuccessfully on a review.
They used up their final review to question an lbw appeal against Roston Chase from Anderson, who was warned twice for running on the wicket and now risks being barred from bowling for the rest of the Test.
Day 3
West Indies 123 & 177
England 194 & 107/1
England win by 9 wickets
Jimmy Anderson celebrated his 500-wicket landmark with new career-best figures of seven for 42 as England completed a series-sealing win over West Indies in the third Test at Lord’s.
Anderson was rampant as the tourists were bowled out for 177 on day three, despite a determined and skilful hand from Shai Hope (62), and England duly knocked off 107 to deliver victory by nine wickets and a second series success for Joe Root in his maiden summer as captain.
After Anderson’s momentous milestone the previous evening, he came up with two more early strikes on the resumption – and then two wickets in three balls straight after lunch, starting with Hope, broke the Windies’ resistance as they lost their last four for only 22 runs.
England then took 28 overs to make light of a soft target in fine batting conditions, albeit in a low-scoring match, and claim the series 2-1 just before a slightly delayed tea.
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