Kraigg Brathwaite’s masterclass of defence leaves England slim chance of victory

Marathon man Kraigg Brathwaite completed a masterclass of defence and defiance to leave England a race against time after four days of the second Test in Barbados.

The West Indies captain arrived at the crease on Thursday evening and hogged the stage until Saturday afternoon, digging his heels in for 11 hours and 51 minutes as he carved out a crucial 160 on a lifeless pitch at Kensington Oval.

The hosts were finally wrapped up for 411 in an arduous 187.5 overs, a first-innings deficit of 96, leaving England less than four sessions to manufacture a winning position. By stumps openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees had stretched that to 136 without loss but a tough final day awaits.

Bajan favourite Brathwaite soaked up a remarkable 489 deliveries to eat up precious time at his home ground, exactly 400 of which were scoreless, before falling to England’s own epitome of endurance – Jack Leach.

The left-arm spinner bowled 69.5 overs, the most by an Englishman since Phil Tufnell’s 71 at Wellington in 1992. He provided more control than creativity but never flagged despite his captain’s hefty demands and finished with admirable figures of three for 118.

The delivery he produced to finally end Brathwaite’s epic knock was at least a fitting one, pitching on middle, sneaking past the edge and clipping the top of off, ending the longest Test knock anywhere in the world since New Zealand’s Tom Latham three and a half years ago. It was the 214th time Leach had bowled at Brathwaite since the start of the innings and a pleasing end to an often laborious battle of wills in which neither man blinked.

In terms of time taken by a West Indian, Brathwaite’s knock now sits third behind the great Brian Lara’s world record scores of 375 and 400.

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