Hope's heroics inspire West Indies to mighty Headingley win

A slice of Headingley history came with Shai Hope's match-winning hundred as he inspired West Indies to victory over England.

Published : Aug 29, 2017 23:56 IST

Shai Hope's record-breaking hundred and another mammoth partnership with Kraigg Braithwaite inspired West Indies to a rare away Test win as it levelled the three-match series with England at Headingley.

Read: Holder hails Headingley win as just reward for West Indies

Hope scored a marvellous unbeaten 118 to become the first player to score centuries in both innings of a first-class game at Headingley, a feat Brathwaite had previously fell five runs short of - benefitting from being dropped on four to punish an England performance that was badly lacking in imagination.

Also read: Law lauds wonderful Windies' Headingley heroics

Brathwaite and Hope had added 246 runs for the fourth wicket in the tourists' first innings and their 144-run union on Tuesday helped secure the Windies' first Test win on the road since 2012 and just a second in England since the turn of the millennium.

Joe Root's battery of seamers lucklessly toiled away, with Moeen Ali (2-76) also finding the pitch not greatly helpful to his off-spin, despite a full Test's worth of wear and tear.

READ: Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

It allowed West Indies to calmly chip away at its victory target of 322 and banish memories of the innings defeat at Edgbaston in the series opener, Hope fittingly hitting the winning runs to spark a celebration that may well extend carnival weekend in Leeds a little longer.

Brathwaite and Kieran Powell had set the tone with a positive start, though that ploy ought to have cost Brathwaite early when he edged Stuart Broad (1-91) to first slip, where Alastair Cook could not hold on at shoulder height.

Powell (23) was undone by a rare moment of England quality as Broad's angled delivery shaped away and took the edge on its way to Ben Stokes in the cordon.

The host's luck was in as Broad attempted to catch Brathwaite off his own bowling and inadvertently deflected the ball onto the non-striker's stumps, where a rueful Kyle Hope departed for a duck.

The younger of the Hope brothers' performance was one to be celebrated, however, neatly picking the gaps in fields that Root seemed reticent to experiment with, even as the batsmen grew more and more comfortable.

England's malaise was encapsulated by James Anderson (0-73) seeing a ball pass through his legs in the field and then Broad kicking at the pitch after Brathwaite brought up the hundred partnership, before Hope steered Ben Stokes (0-25) through third man to move West Indies beyond halfway in its chase.

The verge of tea brought a breakthrough as Brathwaite edged Moeen to slip just short of his hundred, and Roston Chase's fitful knock was ended by a superb catch by substitute fielder Mason Crane off Chris Woakes (1-44).

However, Jermaine Blackwood's arrival at the crease added an explosive element and the right-hander's response to England taking the new ball was to blast a sluggish Anderson over his head for six.

Hope's crowning moment was not far behind as a scampered single made history and there was time for Blackwood (41) to lash another incredible maximum over third man off Broad, see a skied effort dropped by Stokes and be stumped trying to belt the winning runs off Moeen.

Despite Blackwood's thrashing, Hope had remained serene throughout and his winning shot sparked wild and well deserved celebrations on the visitors' balcony.

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