TEST MATCH TALKING POINTS: The making of Mark Wood and ruthless Roach

A brilliant maiden five-wicket-haul from Mark Wood on Sunday defined what was England's best day of the series so far. TOM EDWARDS picks out some of the bigger talking points from a wonderful day of cricket...

The making of Mark Wood?

What a day for Mark Wood. By the second ball of his fifth over he had already taken his best ever Test figures, getting to four wickets for the first time in his Test career. By his ninth, he had got his first Test five-wicket-haul.

For a long time, Wood has been associated with the notion of bowling quick without really doing it for England when selected. Be that a combination of injuries or it just not going right for him on the day, it just hasn’t quite worked. A bowling average of 41.73 reflects that.

However, here he bowled with serious pace and provided England a really valuable option with a ball that Jimmy Anderson was struggling to get to swing. Had Sam Curran been playing, it could have been so different.

We should not, however, get completely ahead of ourselves - Wood is not suddenly the answer, and Curran is not suddenly useless.

Prior to this series, we were talking about Curran as if he was a shoo-in for years to come, and Wood didn’t even make the squad until Olly Stone got injured.

England need to be confident that Wood can do this more than just once in 13 matches. This is the start he obviously needs, and this could see him push to play in the first Ashes Test, but they shouldn’t ditch just Curran yet.

^{Mark Wood on his way to his maiden Test five-wicket-haull}

England under 300 and no centuries again

With England bowled out for 277, they went another innings without any of their batsmen scoring a century, and have still yet to go past 300 in this series. They now have just one more chance to do either.

This was their highest score and Rory Burns’ 84 in the first Test remains the highest score by any England batsman in the series so far. This was also the first time since 2001 that England have been bowled for under 300 in successive Test.

The last time that England went a series that was three matches or more without scoring a century was when they toured the UAE in 2012, and lost 3-0. The highest score on that instance was 94 from Alastair Cook.

The last time they went a series the same length or more without going past 300 was away to Sri Lanka in 2003. They managed to get as close as 294 in the second Test as they lost the series 1-0.

Is Kemar Roach the real man of the series?

The man on everyone’s lips come the end of this series is still likely to be West Indies captain Jason Holder. That double-century in the first Test, and his four wickets in the second were both instrumental in sealing his side’s victory.

Though it might be coincidence, this is the first time England have been on top in a Test, and it just happens to be when Holder is absent.

However, it is surely Kemar Roach who should be getting the man of the series award. His four wickets in England’s first innings mean he now has 17 wickets at an average of 12.05. He is the leading wicket-taker in the series, currently six wickets ahead of Moeen Ali who is second.

Since returning to the West Indies team after more than a year out of the side in 2017, he has taken 61 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 20.75.

Over the same period, Anderson has taken 54 wickets at 23.94, while his team-mate Shannon Gabriel has taken 57 wickets at 25.07.

^{Kemar Roach has 17 wickets at 12.05 in the series}

Brathwaite & Campbell v Burns & Jennings/Denly

This is the first Test series in which Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell have opened together for the West Indies. The first Test was Campbell’s debut after he replaced Kieron Powell who opened for the Windies during their tour of Bangladesh and India.

The pair brought up their fourth 50 partnership of the series in the afternoon session, which means they have gone past 50 for the first wicket on every occasion possible in this series. Compare that with England, who have managed it just once.

On the one instance that they have managed it so far, Rory Burns and Keaton Jennings enjoyed the largest opening stand of the series so far when they put on 86 for the first wicket in England’s second innings of the first Test.

Beyond just the runs the pair have made, they have also lasted more than 15 overs in all four of the innings they could, while England have managed it twice in their five innings.

They can still improve, of course. They have yet to enjoy a 100-run partnership, neither has even scored a half-century, and both will have been very disappointed (particularly Brathwaite) by the manner of their consecutive dismissals at the hands of Ali.

However, as mentioned before, England have only managed a 50 opening partnership once during the series so far, and the pair of Brathwaite and Powell did not have a single 50-run stand during their time in the subcontinent, so it’s definitely an improvement.