When Nottinghamshire announced at 2pm on the fourth day that entry for the fifth would be free, it looked for all money – well, no money – like a great offer. The final equation was not yet known but an unyielding surface – one that served as the canvas for centuries from Harry Brook and Joe Root – was hinting at the potential for a thrilling finale.
Instead, over the course of an extended evening session, the value of these tickets plummeted like the stock market after a Tufton Street mini-budget and, beyond data capture for the county’s marketing team, was eventually rendered worthless. Set a target of 385 in 138 overs to level the series, West Indies were skittled for just 143 in 36.1 overs as England reclaimed the Richards‑Botham Trophy with a game to spare.
It was almost the perfect day for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, featuring runs from the engine room – Brook powering 109 from 132 balls, Root finessing 122 from 178 – and a rush of wickets from an attack that, as may have been mentioned before, no longer has either Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad at its disposal.
Among those central to the 241‑run victory was the young off-spinner who they are now set on, Shoaib Bashir leading the team off the field, ball raised to all corners, after a match-winning five-wicket haul.
Chris Woakes knocked over the opening pair of Kraigg Brathwaite (47) and Mikyle Louis (17) by wobbling the Dukes ball in the channel and finished with six wickets for the match; a personally memorable 50th Test cap and a solid response to some of the question marks around his new role as attack leader. Mark Wood, though not entirely reflected by the final column, bowled like the speed of light on his return – just ask Kevin Sinclair, bounced out by a snorter – while Gus Atkinson backed up his 12-wicket debut at Lord’s with four more on his pile, forever probing off-stump and asking questions.
But beyond the extra day off before the third Test at Edgbaston starting on Friday – the golf course calling, no doubt – England’s captain and head coach will have taken most delight at Bashir’s match-winning figures of five for 41 from 11.1 overs. The 20-year-old has struggled for a spot in Somerset’s XI this summer but at Trent Bridge he filleted the middle order, cleaned up Jason Holder with a quicker arm ball, and inflicted the coup de grâce when Shamar Joseph, destroyer of roof tiles on day three, was bowled attempting a repeat. Jamie Smith also held five catches overall, none so good at emulating his county teammate Ben Foakes as the low pouch off Kirk McKenzie when Bashir tickled an under-edge.
It may be that West Indies simply ran out of gas in the end, having dug deep after the mismatch at Lord’s, and kept pace with England initially. After Kavem Hodge delivered the innings of his life – a memorable 120 that, along with Joshua Da Silva’s unbeaten 82, helped to secure a first-innings lead – Brathwaite’s attack had the chance to inject some true jeopardy on day three, with cloud cover overhead and the floodlights at full beam.
Instead, they slightly frayed, with the talented Jayden Seales finishing with four wickets but among those to struggle when the contest was truly on the line. After marshalling England through to stumps on day three from a perilous three down, 99 ahead, Brook and Root continued their march on a sunnier fourth to provide the ballast for 425 all out. It turned out this was the first time that England had made 400 runs in both innings of a Test match; the kind of statistic that almost sounds made up.
Ollie Pope was named player of the match – scores of 121 and 51 the clincher – and Ben Duckett had a shout after two crisp half-centuries that set the tone in both innings. But the third‑innings stand of 189 in 41.2 overs from Brook and Root was what bolted the door shut, even if Stokes, like those logging on to claim the free day-five tickets, did not expect the cascade of West Indian wickets that saw them lose 10 for 82 in 23 overs.
Going by the century celebrations alone – Brook’s calm raise of the bat after a quick single, compared to Root’s instinctive punch of the air upon driving Alzarri Joseph through the covers – a newcomer would have struggled to work out which of the two was tasting their first Test century on home soil, and who had just made their 32nd overall, drawing level with two decorated contemporaries in Steve Smith and Kane Williamson to boot.
They were contrasting innings, too. Brook resumed his overnight 71 looking for Test century No 5, motoring to it with all the crunched drives and muscular intent that marks him out as the coming man; his early drive through extra cover off Seales a statement of intent. Root, 37 not out first thing, played the touch game, more than happy to operate in the slipstream of the young buck by guiding and hustling his runs.
There have been a fair few along the way, this innings seeing Root rise two places to eighth in the all‑time list of run-scorers and overtaking Mahela Jayawardene (11,814) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11,867) in the process. The totaliser sits at 11,940, Root left 13 short of Brian Lara at No 7 when, having been liberated by the century to the point of bringing out his previously mothballed reverse ramp, he chipped Holder to short cover.
Root’s final contribution came at the end and was a typically selfless act, pushing Bashir ahead of his teammates to rightly soak up the Trent Bridge applause. Even the folks who snapped up those free day-five tickets could not begrudge the youngster his moment.
