England scent victory against West Indies

Anderson reduces West Indies to 286 for 8 at lunch

James Anderson (centre) celebrates the dismissal of Jason Holder with his teammates during the final day of the second Test. — AFP

St. George’s — Jimmy Anderson triggered a stunning West Indies collapse with a fiery spell of bowling with the second new ball and three strikes in the field to put England in a winning position at lunch on the final day Saturday of the second Test.

The West Indies, behind by 165 on the first innings, disintegrated from 202-2 overnight to 286-8 at lunch, a lead of 121 with two sessions remaining.

Captain Denesh Ramdin was on 22, legspinner Devendra Bishoo was beside him, and only fast bowler Shannon Gabriel was left.

The West Indies lost six wickets for 58 runs, and Anderson was involved in all of them.

First, he dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite, who added 15 to his overnight score, with his seventh delivery with the new ball. Brathwaite had no answer to a steep bouncer that he fended off the shoulder of the bat for a catch to gully, and was gone for 116 after 252 balls.

Anderson removed the usually dependable veteran left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 7. The 40-year-old Chanderpaul, the West Indies second-highest scorer in his 163rd Test, edged a catch to second slip; it bounced from Ian Bell’s grasp to be taken, with a juggle by a fully stretched Alastair Cook.

In his next over, first-innings century-maker Marlon Samuels was out to a thin edge to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler for 37.

When Anderson ended his spell of eight overs that earned him three wickets for 16 runs, he leapt to grasp an overhead catch at mid-off from Jamie Blackwood’s unnecessary drive off Chris Jordan. Then, off balance and falling backward, he ran out Jason Holder with a direct throw at the non-striker’s stumps from over 20 meters, and caught Kemar Roach soft pop-up on the run at wide mid-on from offspinner Moeen Ali.