Agencies
England surged to a series win by blowing away West Indies in a single session on the fourth day of the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Set 385 to win or four sessions to save the game, West Indies disintegrated from 61-0 to 82-5 in a manic blur of five wickets in six overs.
Chris Woakes twice found the edge to remove openers Mikyle Louis and Kraigg Brathwaite, and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir bowled a magical spell to claim 3-8 in 15 deliveries.
From there, the only question was whether the game would last until Monday. Mark Wood bounced out Kevin Sinclair, Gus Atkinson struck twice in three balls and Bashir took the final two wickets to end with 5-41. West Indies were 143 all out and beaten by 241 runs.
All this came after Joe Root and Harry Brook each made centuries to lay the platform for England’s victory push.
Root’s 122 was his 32nd Test hundred, one short of Sir Alastair Cook’s England record, while Brook added 109 for his first Test ton in this country.
West Indies’ target might have been larger had England not lost 7-96, but the regular fall of home wickets also gave Ben Stokes’ side enough time to wrap up the game with a day to spare.
It gives England their first series win since the tour of Pakistan in 2022. They will look for a 3-0 clean sweep when the final Test begins at Edgbaston on Friday.
The rapid way this match unravelled in the final session of the fourth day was at odds with everything that came before, when these teams had wrestled for control.
Even with the runs Root and Brook scored in the morning session, there was still a ray of light for West Indies, who clung on by taking 3-19 just before lunch.
In the end, the target always felt likely to be well beyond them, despite the great spirit they have shown in responding to a heavy first Test defeat at Lord’s and the fact the pitch showed no huge sign of deteriorating until West Indies began their chase.
Suddenly, England were getting the ball to shoot and spit, particularly from the new Stuart Broad End. Woakes exploited some uncertain footwork, while Bashir hinted at why England have chosen him ahead of Somerset team-mate Jack Leach.
By this point, free entry for the fifth day had been offered to spectators, much like the last men’s Test at this ground, when England thrillingly beat New Zealand in 2022 on the day their Bazball style was born.
The fifth day was not required, but the outcome is the same: an England win and an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
Given the conditions, England might have been expecting a similar slog to the first innings, when they needed almost 112 overs to dismiss West Indies for 457.
Instead, this was a collective display of brilliance by the home attack, who dismantled the Windies in 36.1 overs of mayhem after tea.
Brathwaite in particular had looked in solid touch for 47 in his opening stand of 61 with Louis, but once Louis was drawn into an edge by Woakes, the implosion was swift and dramatic.
The four-day finish was a possibility, made a reality when fleeting resistance from Sinclair was ended by a brutal bouncer in another terrifying spell from Wood.
When last man Shamar Joseph was bowled having a swipe, 20-year-old Bashir became the youngest England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a home Test and the first spinner to take five in an innings at Trent Bridge since 2006.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite, said: "It’s a tough loss, we pretty much lost 10 wickets in a session. It’s not good enough.
"It was obviously better than Lord’s but with the ball we weren’t as consistent as we should have been.”
England captain Ben Stokes said: "I didn’t see it happening that quickly after the opening partnership. You could see at the end of our innings the wicket started misbehaving, I thought the way we fought back after that first wicket was impressive.
"I think we can get better, really looking forward to the next four matches.”