Root explains England declaration against West Indies

England captain Joe Root acknowledged that he could have declared earlier on the final day of the drawn second Test against West Indies.

By leaving his somewhat conservative declaration until lunch, he left his bowlers only 65 overs on a docile pitch to collect the 10 second-innings West Indies wickets needed for victory.

The hosts were never going to seriously chase the 282 runs they needed to win, and probably would not have gone for a somewhat smaller margin either.

But Root in a post match interview sounded as though he did not want to give the hosts even a sniff of a chance.

“It’s always a tricky one isn’t it ... trying to weigh that up,” he said of the constantly changing mathematical calculation surrounding the declaration.

“Just with how small this ground is and how strong the wind was, you don’t want to ... give too many overs.

“To look back in hindsight, could we have pulled out 10 overs earlier, would it have made much difference?”

He was speaking after West Indies finished on 135 for five, with captain Kraigg Brathwaite unbeaten on 56 in addition to his marathon first innings 160.