-Windies hand back Wisden Trophy after humiliating defeat
CHESTER-LE-STREET, England, CMC – West Indies ended their briefest-ever grasp on the Wisden Trophy yesterday, when they crumbled to an innings and 83-run defeat in the second and final Test against England.
Trailing by 259 runs on first innings, West Indies were dismissed for 176 in their second innings about an hour after lunch on the fifth and final day at the Riverside.
Fidel Edwards was caught at deep fine leg essaying a hook at a short, rising deliver from Tim Bresnan for four to signal the end of the Test.
The defeat for West Indies meant that England sweep the two-Test series 2-0, and takes hold of the Wisden Trophy which they lost for just 69 days following its 0-1 defeat in the preceding series between the two sides in the Caribbean.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit the top score of 47, but no other batsman suggested substance or stability, as West Indies again failed to negotiate England’s seam and swing bowling in chilly conditions.
James Anderson collected four wickets for 38 runs from 16 overs and finished with match figures of nine for 125 to earn the Man-of-the-Match award.
Tim Bresnan, playing in only his second Test, after making his debut in the opening match at Lord’s, took three for 45 from 14 overs.
Two stoppages for rain offered West Indies faint hope of salvaging a draw, after they continued from their overnight total of 115 for three.
Chanderpaul and Lendl Simmons extended their overnight fourth-wicket partnership of 52, before Anderson made the breakthrough and triggered a slide that saw West Indies lose their last seven wickets for 35 runs.
Simmons was caught at backward point for 10 chasing a short, wide delivery to leave West Indies 141 for four.
After this, there was no resistance from the rest of the West Indies’ batting, as Anderson and Bresnan swiftly wrapped things up.
Brendan Nash was caught at mid-wicket off Bresnan for one, and Denesh Ramdin followed his impressive first innings half century with a two-ball duck, when he was caught at third slip off Bresnan before West Indies had reached 150.
Both Jerome Taylor and Sulieman Benn were spectacularly bowled off stump for five and a duck respectively, when they failed to negotiate Anderson’s swing to leave West Indies 167 for eight at lunch.
After lunch, Chanderpaul departed early, when he edged Anderson to give an historic catch behind the stumps to Paul Collingwood, who had been standing in for Matt Prior since tea on day four before Bresnan bought things to a close.
The result means that West Indies remain seventh, but are now only a few points above New Zealand in eighth, while England moves into fifth spot above Pakistan in the ICC’s World Rankings.
Ravi Bopara, who hit centuries at Lord’s and Chester-le-Street, earned the Man-of-the-Series award for England, and Edwards – with seven wickets in the two Tests – claimed a similar award for West Indies.
