West Indies faced a tough contest against England in Nottingham on Friday, with James Anderson playing for the first time since his international retirement, as Cavem Hodge scored his maiden Test hundred.
On the second day of the second Test match at Trent Bridge, West Indies won 351-5, trailing by 65 runs, after England had scored 416 in the first innings.
Hodge, who pitched the 16th inning, scored 120 runs in just his seventh inning at this level for the 31-year-old.
He shared 175 runs with Windward Islands batsman Alek Athanadze (82), who was on the verge of a maiden Test century after the fourth-wicket duo showed the kind of skill and determination that many pundits had feared West Indies were lacking, batting throughout the second session.
The pair met just before lunch, with the West Indies struggling 84-3 despite good pitching and clear skies, and a lightning-quick outfielder to give the batsmen an advantage.
If this were to happen, England would have fielded veteran paceman Anderson, who has been in the side for the past 21 years.
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But the 41-year-old finished Test cricket with 704 wickets – the most ever by a fast bowler – after England’s dominant innings and 114-run win over West Indies in the series-opening match at Lord’s, and team chiefs are looking to reshape the squad ahead of the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia.
It will also be England’s first home Test since 2012 without Anderson or his long-time new-ball counterpart Stuart Broad (who retired after last year’s Ashes).
The pair combined for 1,308 Test wickets and their absence has always left a void, even as Anderson takes on a new role as England’s fast bowling mentor.
Instead, Chris Woakes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson shared the new ball as England took a combined 12 wickets on Test debut at Lord’s to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Bashir’s Double Attack
England captain Ben Stokes’ decision to bring on off-spinner Shoaib Bashir as his second substitution rather than himself was soon rewarded with Mikhail Lewis and Kirk McKenzie both hitting quick shots, and the 20-year-old took his maiden Test wicket on home soil.
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Craig Brathwaite made 48 runs in the opener by directly denying Atkinson’s aerial ball to Ollie Pope at short leg.
But just as England benefited from several missed catches on Thursday, Pope was missed twice during the 121-run effort, and Hodge also got a break when he pushed the pacey Mark Wood, brought back in for Anderson, to first slip and Joe Root had a regular two-handed chance to score.
Athanase was hit on the helmet by Wood’s quick bouncer for 48 points.
But he recovered to make his maiden Test fifty, and Hodge (whose previous best Test score was 71 in a thrilling eight-run win over Australia in Brisbane in January) followed suit.
But Stokes, who did not appear until the 50th over, eventually broke away from the pair after a 99-ball performance that included 10 fours and a six, with Athanadze slapping a wide ball to Harry Brook.
But Hodge completed his century by grounding the all-rounder for a 17th boundary off 143 balls after pulling Stokes back by four to make it 97, and the diminutive batsman happily leapt into the arms of tall non-striker Jason Holder.
He was eventually ruled lbw by Walkes, and the dismissal was upheld by the umpire’s decision.
But West Indies, who were 305-5 ahead, had already scored much more than the combined 257 runs they had scored in their two innings at Lord’s.
Warks finished the day with 1-59 from 18 overs, but Wood, who repeatedly clocked 93mph (150km/h) and swung the outside edge, left the field with little reward, trailing at 0-51 from 14.1 overs.
