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Sunday, 27 May 2012

Bresnan Helps England Trott


England put themselves in pole position to win the second Test at Trent Bridge by reducing West Indies to 61-6 at the end of day three.

Trailing by 58 as they came out to bat for a second time, the tourists' fragile top order was dismantled in the final session to leave them needing a miracle to stay in the series - they will resume on Monday with a lead of just three.

Not even Shivnarine Chanderpaul was able to stop the rot, hooking a short ball from Stuart Broad to Jonathan Trott at fine leg, as the West Indies experienced yet another 'calypso collapso' on the trip.

Tim Bresnan produced a superb six-over spell of 3-10 having earlier played his part with the bat, making 39 not out in England's total of 428.

Resuming on 259-2, the hosts had begun the day with high hopes of building a much bigger lead than 58. Instead, they needed a flurry of boundaries from Bresnan and Broad just to get their noses ahead.

The West Indies took four wickets in the morning session, Kevin Pietersen the first to go for 80 when he was trapped lbw by a full delivery from Ravi Rampaul.

Ian Bell fell in similar fashion to Kemar Roach for 22, though the tourists needed a referral to see the back of the Warwickshire batsman; he had already been dropped on 15 by wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin off the bowling of Shane Shillingford.

Jonny Bairstow endured a rude awakening on his arrival at the crease with some short stuff from Roach, who appeared over the no-ball problems that plagued him on Saturday.

It was no surprise, then, that the paceman eventually got his man for four, though perhaps the mode of dismissal - caught at mid-on from a leading edge - wasn't the most expected way of getting the young Yorkshireman out.

Matt Prior contributed 16 but when he prodded forward at Darren Sammy to be bowled off an inside edge, England were six down at lunch and still trailing by 30.

Strauss was unable to wipe out the deficit before his long vigil came to an end, the opener departing for 141 when Sammy tempted him into a drive outside off stump, resulting in a thin edge through to Ramdin.

The home skipper did at least add more than six runs to his overnight ton, something he had never achieved before. In total he hit 22 boundaries.

Bresnan and Broad embarked on an entertaining eighth-wicket stand worth 53 to get England ahead, the latter managing 25 before a mis-timed paddle sweep provided Sammy a simple catch and Shillingford his only wicket.

Marlon Samuels' part-time off-breaks did for Graeme Swann and also James Anderson, though the Lancashire paceman was soon causing problems with the new ball in his hand.

He needed just one ball at Kieran Powell, pitched up and sending the left-hander's leg stump cartwheeling via the inside edge.

Opener Adrian Barath was then trapped leg before to leave the score at 14-2 and with Kirk Edwards unable to come in at his usual spot of number three due to illness, England had Chanderpaul in nicely and early.

The promotion didn't pay off for the world's number one batsman as Broad tempted him into a rather rash shot considering the match situation, while Bresnan removed Dwayne Bravo for 22 to make it 45-4.

The all-rounder had both Ramdin (six) and Edwards, who completed a rather miserable day all round with a second-ball duck, lbw in the same over to leave the West Indies wobbling. They will require another huge partnership from Samuels and skipper Sammy to get them out of this mess.


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