For the visiting team, Jack Crawley played an unbeaten innings of 117 runs, scoring a brilliant century, while captain Joe Root is looking solid at the crease after scoring 84 runs off 158 balls. England were bundled out for 311 in their first innings, in response to which West Indies scored 375 runs in the first innings.
The fourth day started with West Indies batting, the hosts were restricted to adding just 2 runs to their innings. Nkrumah Bonner (123) scored a brilliant century for the Windies and after the first innings, the team managed to take a lead of 64 runs. Jack Leach, Craig Overturn and Ben Stokes took 2-2 wickets from the English team.
England has struggled to find a reliable opening pair since their tour to India in 2021. In the Ashes, the openers were always first and early to fall. In the first innings of this match, the opening pair struggled to make a significant contribution to score.
Similarly, in the second innings, debutante Alex Lees was dismissed LBW by Keemar Roach on a score of just 6 and showed the way to the pavilion. However, Jack Crawley and Joe Root batted wonderfully and sensibly for the second wicket. They batted almost 2 sessions and West Indies haven’t found a second wicket yet.
Together, they built a 193-run partnership for the second wicket. Skipper Joe Root played some amazing shots through the covers in his 86 runs innings. Because of this partnership, the visiting team found some definite control over the game.
By the end of the fourth day, Crowley and Root at the crease and now the match is moving towards a draw. However, only if England scores more than 150 runs in the first 30 overs of the fifth day, then they can put the West Indies under pressure to win the match. In that case, their bowling attack will have a litmus test.