This was what West Indies needed. What the Test series needed. A pair of diminutive Dominicans stood tall against England, Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze registering career-best scores beneath the glare of the Nottingham sun on the hottest day of the English summer. West Indies are used to feeling the heat as a Test nation but, not for the first time, they found their fire in response, Hodge's maiden hundred providing the foundation for a fightback.
The scream of delight as he pumped Ben Stokes through mid-off to go to three figures told of the effort Hodge had poured into lifting his side out of difficulty alongside Athanaze. He ended up celebrating in the arms of the six-foot-several Jason Holder , a comedic sight that somehow added to the joy of the moment. Hodge, in only his fourth Test, pipped Athanaze, playing his sixth, to the honour of becoming only the second cricketer from Dominica to score a Test century, but both took a share of the credit - "two little pals" worthy of a modern-day calypso.
Hodge tossed his bat in frustration when he eventually fell lbw to Chris Woakes, umpire's call on review, but his innings - the first hundred by a West Indies batter in Tests since Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul both went big against Zimbabwe in February 2023 - had gone a long way towards helping West Indies achieve first-innings parity, perhaps even a dart at a lead.
West Indies had aided and abetted England getting past 400 on day one and arrived on the second morning knowing that they had to make good on ideal batting conditions at Trent Bridge. They were given a solid start by the openers, Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis raising a first half-century opening stand for West Indies in England since 2009 - but three wickets in the second half of the morning session, two of them comparative gifts, hinted at the fragility that saw them dismissed for totals of 121 and 136 at Lord's.
Timely resistance came in the form of Athanaze and Hodge, Windward Islands team-mates, left-hander and right-hander, coming man and seasoned pro, who formed an unbreakable maroon line through the afternoon and into the evening. Their partnership of 175 in 36.4 overs - the biggest of the series on either side - finally gave West Indies something to rally round after being crushed inside three days in the first Test.
While Hodge benefited from a bad drop at slip by Joe Root when he had made just 16, Athanaze was unfazed by everything England threw at him until he slashed Stokes to gully. He had just two notable moments of discomfort - when blocking his first ball, a well-directed yorker from Gus Atkinson, and briefly losing his bearings as it trickled away behind him; and when badged by a Mark Wood bouncer, which necessitated a delay to go through concussion protocols. In the following over, Athanaze pulled Atkinson smoothly into the gap for two to bring up a maiden Test fifty.
It was a moment to savour for a man who has been feted as the future of West Indies batting but had failed to better the 47 he made on debut a year ago in eight subsequent innings. "I haven't done as well as I've wanted to, definitely in the Test arena," Athanaze told ESPNcricinfo the day before this game began, openly admitting he would "really love a Test hundred". He will have to wait but one will surely not be long in coming.
It is not hard to see why Brian Lara, among others , has been beguiled by Athanaze's talent. The quality of his shot-making was apparent immediately after lunch, with West Indies precariously placed on 89 for 3. Another quick wicket would have left them in a hole responding to 416, but Athanaze twice caressed cover drives to the rope off Woakes. When Woakes did find the edge in between, the hands were soft enough that the ball died well in front of first slip.
At Lord's, where he made 23 and 22, Athanaze had weathered the initial examination only to be dismissed without having gone on to a more substantial score. In both innings, he scored at a strike rate of below 50; here he cracked along at 82.82, and did the bulk of the scoring early in the partnership, as Hodge found his feet. Shoaib Bashir was hit back down the ground for back-to-back fours and then slog-swept over midwicket, while the first ball Athanaze received from Wood, clocked at 93.1mph, was pinged through the covers.
Hodge, too, grew into the contest after a watchful start. The placid conditions had tempted England down the short-ball route during the first session and they tried to target Hodge after lunch. He was intermittently troubled, one top edge off Wood falling short of fine leg and another gloved pull flying wide of Jamie Smith; in between he should have been dismissed when hanging back to a fuller ball from the same bowler. But he scored plenty of runs against the short stuff, too, raising the tempo of his innings as England toiled for a breakthrough.
A late dab off Atkinson took him to 50 in Tests for the second time - the first had helped carve out a platform from adversity in West Indies' memorable triumph at the Gabba back in January. As Hodge bent himself to the task once again, denting Bashir's figures and taking on Stokes to bring up three figures in ebullient fashion, it increased the possibility that his side can do something similar here.
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