The series decider between England and West Indies got underway in Manchester, as Windies captain Jason Holder won the toss and opted to bowl first. Experienced campaigner Kemar Roach provided early breakthroughs for the visitors early in the innings by dismissing both the centurions of the last match cheaply. More importantly, he cleaned up the dangerous Ben Stokes with a beautiful delivery.
If there was one English cricketer who stood between the Windies dream of winning a series in England after 1988, it was probably none other than Ben Stokes. The man who is the form of his life, couldn’t actually get going in the third Test as Windies pacer Kemar Roach set him up beautifully and later cleaned his off stump with a gem of a delivery.
It happened in the 35th over of England’s first innings when Roach set up Stokes with a shortish delivery at the start of the over. Stokes, who didn’t see it coming was hit on the head. Due to which he had to undergo a customary concussion check as per the rules of the game. He came back quickly and smashed Roach for a boundary on another shortish delivery, only to realize that it was a proper set up by Roach who bowled completely fullish length deliveries outside the off-stump after this. Roach then followed it up with another full-length delivery which nipped back in and knocked over off-stump of Stokes while on 20 from 43 balls
It was the first score below 30 for Ben Stokes in this series and is a major setback for him as he is playing in this match as a specialist batsman.
ENG vs WI 3rd Test: 5 players who could shine in the series decider
Kemar Roach lacked form before the start of this Test series. He had to wait for more than 80 overs to claim a Test wicket until he got Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes during England’s first innings in the 2nd Test. He followed it up now by dismissing Stokes in the third Test as well.
He has now dismissed Stokes five times in his career. Only Nathon Lyon(6) and Ravichandran Ashwin(7) has dismissed him more times in Test cricket.
He started the day by dismissing English opener Dom Sibley for a duck by trapping him in front of the stumps, to give an early head start to the West Indies team.
Watch: Roston Chase superb direct hit sends Joe Root packing
For more cricket news, click here.