West Indies captain Jason Holder took six for 42 as he tore through the England order in the first Test in Southampton
In the hour after lunch, the current of the match began to shift. It had been running against England all morning, and they had stumbled to 87 for five. But now Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were settling in the middle, captain and vice-captain together, the two senior batsmen in this inexperienced lineup. Buttler was lashing his bat at everything wide, Stokes was more cautious, but still studded his cagey play with the occasional emphatic pull shot whenever the bowling dropped too short. He had reason to be circumspect, since he had already been dropped twice, once at fine leg, when he was on 18, then again at short extra cover, when he had 32.
Jason Holder snapped after that second chance went begging, and walked towards the middle of the pitch so he could rally his team. Holder could sense the change in the weather, too, and felt the game just beginning to turn against him. When Buttler hit two fours in three balls from Shannon Gabriel, the partnership rolled up into the 60s. Holder decided it was time to take a grip on it and came back into the attack himself. So we got to watch the opening blows in a contest that will run all summer, a duel between two captains in this match: Holder, the world’s top-ranked all-rounder, and Stokes, who is one place behind him.
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