Related Links : West Indies in England 2007 : Scorecard
The honours have been evenly shared after a full day’s play at Chester-le-Street on Sunday. England were put in a supreme position by Andrew Strauss but three quick wickets from Fidel Edwards has changed the equation. The homeside is at 121 for 4 in reply to West Indies’ 287 which was largely due to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 16th hundred.
It has been a return of form for Andrew Strauss who has finished the third day’s play with 72. He has hit 11 fours in his 121-ball stay. After a quick start, Alastair Cook was taken behind by the keeper Denesh Ramdin off the bowling of Fidel Edwards for 13. Captain Michael Vaughan repaired the early loss with a busy partnership with Strauss who was doing most of the scoring. Fidel Edwards returned once again and this time, he picked not just Vaughan but also the big one of Kevin Pietersen to end the day’s play. Pietersen was supposed to come out only on the fourth day but he had to when Corey Collymore got rid of the nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard who survived only four balls. Both Hoggard and Pietersen got out without opening their accounts.
Earlier in the day, Windies were in a slump losing four wickets for just 30 runs. They lost their overnight batsman Dwayne Bravo with just nine runs added in the day’s play. Bravo was bowled by Hoggard for 44 ending the 86-run stand with Chanderpaul. Another fruitful partnership followed from Chanderpaul this time with Marlon Samuels. The partnership was going along well before Ryan Sidebottom brought an end to it by removing Samuels for 19. Windies went to lunch at 211 for 6.
After lunch, Shivnarine Chanderpaul brought up his century but he was losing partners at the other end quickly. All of a sudden, Windies were at a dismal 229 for 9. However, Chanderpaul found some assistance in the form of Corey Collymore. The two players kept on frustrating the England players for more than 23 overs. Collymore survived 53 balls to help Chanderpaul add up a valuable 58 runs for the last wicket. Chanderpaul remained unconquered on 136 from 257 balls with 18 fours and a six.