Blackwood steers Windies to victory

The West Indies have claimed a four-wicket win over England in a thrilling finish to the first Test since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chasing 200 to win, the Windies were led by 95 from Jermaine Blackwood, who fell just short of a century when he was dismissed by Ben Stokes with just 11 runs required for victory.

Stokes had threatened to cause a late West Indies collapse when he dismissed Shane Dowrich (20) and then Blackwood, but captain Jason Holder was steadfast to guide his side to a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The fifth day of this Test in the bio-secure 'bubble' of Southampton's Rose Bowl stadium began with England looking to push their lead beyond 200.

But Shannon Gabriel picked up both Mark Wood (2) and Jofra Archer (23) to finish with figures of 5-75 in 21.2 overs and restrict the home side to 313 in their second innings, leaving the Windies a target of exactly 200.

Incredibly, the Caribbean side has now won 55 of the 61 Tests in which they have chased a target of 200 or less, with six draws and zero defeats.

But the run chase had a less than ideal start when a fired up Archer removed Kraigg Brathwaite for four and had fellow opener John Campbell limping off retired hurt after a toe-crushing yorker.

Sharmarh Brooks was then trapped lbw by Archer for a five-ball duck to leave the home side 2-7 in the eighth over, and No.3 Shai Hope was soon bowled by Mark Wood for 9 to have the visitors teetering at 3-27 in the 12th over.

But Roston Chase and Blackwood steadied the Windies with a 73-run stand until Chase fell to Archer, before Dowrich and Blackwood took them within sight of the target.

England were left to rue some sloppy fielding that let Blackwood off the hook; Stokes failed to get a hand on an opportunity at slip from spinner Dom Bess, while Rory Burns, at gully, and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler both dropped catches off Stokes' bowling.

And a mix-up between Blackwood and Chase resulted in a missed opportunity when Zak Crawley fumbled the ball in the covers.

After Stokes' double blow late on, Campbell hobbled back to the middle to help his captain Holder secure the famous win in front of the empty stands.

Holder hailed the day-four bowling as key to his side's victory, but knows a tougher task will await with the return of Joe Root for the next Test.

"In the past we haven't started series well and we've always had to play catch-up," Holder said.

"England missing Root (paternity leave) was a big miss, he's a high-quality player. We thought it was an opportunity to really get into their inexperienced batting line-up.

Image Id: 53ECA9AC37CC4C0FBE1D504470C75AE2 Image Caption: Jermaine Blackwood hit 12 fours in his 95 // Getty

"It's a massive, massive win. To beat England in England is no easy feat.

"We were able to do it last time we were here in 2017 so we all know what the feeling is like but things have changed drastically since then.

"They're a massive unit in their backyard so to start the series this well is very promising for us and we feel proud about the way we performed.

"This morning I woke up and I just wanted to fast-forward to the end of the day with us winning.

"At the start there were a few nerves but we knew once we got a partnership the English bowlers would go flat. Credit to England, they threw a lot at us.

"Yesterday's (day four) effort was by far the best effort I've seen from this group," Holder said.

"And not only the bowlers – the fielders kept running round, getting through the overs, and we all kept our energy up right throughout the day.

"The reason I say that it was the best day for me is down to the fact that every single time I asked for effort from those bowlers, no one said 'No, I can't, I'm too tired'. They just all kept running in."

Stokes, in his Test captaincy debut with Root missing for the birth of his second child, insisted he had no regrets over his decision to bat first after winning the coin toss, and leaving out veteran seamer Stuart Broad.

"I stand by the decision to bat. We've got to be good enough to put runs on board. We just didn't quit manage to grasp the game like we might have done," Stokes said.

"We'll look back and understand that when we get into positions like we did in both innings, we need to be really ruthless.

"If we had another 60 or 80 runs to play with, it would have been a different game."

Broad was dropped for the extra pace of Mark Wood, who returned match figures of 2-110 in 34 overs, reportedly with England looking to build a team towards the 2021 Ashes.

The 138-Test veteran with 485 wickets to his name spoke passionately about his axing mid-Test, but Stokes insisted it was the right call.

"If I was to regret that, I don't think it sends the right message to other guys," Stokes said.

"The interview he gave was fantastic. For someone who has played over 100 Tests, to see the desire and passion he showed and the answers he gave – if he wasn't like that, then I'd be worried.

"We made a decision based around thinking pace was going to stand us a better place.

"Stuart is a fantastic bowler. He understands the reasons why.

"We lost, but I'm not going to look back with any regrets. It shows that we're in a great position to pick so many bowlers and leave someone like Stuart out."

England now trail in the three-Test series 1-0, with the next two matches to be played at Manchester's Old Trafford venue, where Root will return to resume the captaincy.

"We know we've got two games left and we're going to set a target of winning this series 2-1," said Stokes.

"We know what we've got to do, which is to win the next two games.

"I'll look back on this disappointed not to win, but able to say that I've captained England."

The second Test starts on Thursday.