England stormed to victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, winning by 256 runs after tea on the fourth day to go 2-0 up in the series and thus retain the Wisden Trophy

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill01-Aug-2004
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

That winning feeling: James Anderson bowls last man Jermaine Lawson© Getty Images
England stormed to victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, winning by 256 runs after tea on the fourth day to go 2-0 up in the series and thus retain the Wisden Trophy. Ashley Giles was again the hero of the victory charge, picking up 5 for 57 as West Indies were bowled out for 222 in pursuit of an academic 478.Even though England were bowled out quite quickly for 248, with Chris Gayle taking Test-best figures of 5 for 34, it was again their day as the bowlers took control in the final session. Giles picked up three of the six wickets to fall after tea, including Gayle for 82, to take his tally for the match to nine, and become the first English spinner since Tony Lock against New Zealand in 1958 to do so in consecutive Tests.West Indies always faced a daunting task in needing to bat out five sessions for survival, but they didn’t make the best of starts. All the batsmen found Matthew Hoggard’s bounce and Giles’s spin disconcerting, and it was Devon Smith who fell first, edging Hoggard straight to Marcus Trescothick at first slip (15 for 1).Gayle’s torrid time against Hoggard continued when he was struck twice on the body, but he continued to be aggressive against anything loose. Michael Vaughan brought Giles into the attack early on, and in his first over, Andrew Strauss took a stunning catch at silly mid-off to dismiss Ramnaresh Sarwan for 14 (58 for 2).Brian Lara, who came to the crease just 20 short of 10,000 Test runs, played an extravagant drive first up, which he missed, and he was sent packing in the next over. Lara tried to flick a full delivery through the leg side, but the ball took the inside edge and looped to Andrew Flintoff at slip, and Lara was out for 13 (101 for 3). At least that’s what Simon Taufel thought, and replays suggested that there had been two noises as the ball passed the bat and hit the pad.Gayle, meanwhile, reached his half-century from 62 balls by slapping a full-toss from the off-colour Stephen Harmison through mid-off for four, and Gayle was soon back into his stride after tea, smashing a Hoggard slower ball back past the bowler. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, on the other hand, was content to play Giles with the front pad rather than his bat, but attacked when the ball was there to be hit, sweeping Giles for two fours to fine leg, the first of which brought up the fifty partnership.But just as Gayle and Chanderpaul were forming some resistance, Hoggard and Giles switched ends, and with his first ball from the Pavilion End, Hoggard almost had Chanderpaul caught at cover. But it was Giles who made the breakthrough, as Chanderpaul finally paid the price for hiding his bat behind his pad, and was given out lbw by Darrell Hair for 43 (172 for 4).Dwayne Bravo lasted just two balls against Giles before he fell in an identical fashion to the first innings – bowled by one that gripped the surface and turned past the bat to hit off stump (172 for 5). Ridley Jacobs, on a pair, almost became Giles’s third victim of the over, edging the ball onto his pad and into the air back to the bowler, but the caught-and-bowled chance fell just short.The West Indies collapse continued as Giles picked up his fifth wicket, that of Gayle, who had looked set for a century. Another excellent delivery from Giles hit the pad and brushed the bat as Gayle played forward defensively, and Andrew Strauss snapped up the catch at silly mid-off (177 for 6). Jacobs then completed his pair, lofting one from Hoggard that stopped on the pitch to mid-off, where James Anderson leapt into the air to take a well-judged one-handed catch (177 for 7). Pedro Collins didn’t last long, collecting the third duck of West Indies’ innings when he was palpably leg-before to Hoggard (182 for 8).Anderson came back on after a poor spell earlier in the day, and with his second ball bowled Corey Collymore for 10 to take England to the brink of victory (210 for 9). He then completed the rout two overs later by bowling Jermaine Lawson with a fast yorker to start the celebrations.

Marcus Trescothick: the first man to score two centuries in a Test at Edgbaston © Getty Images
It was another sorry ending for West Indies, who crashed to their fifth defeat in six Tests against England. They did, though, salvage some pride by nipping out the remaining seven English wickets in the morning session. However, there was still time for Trescothick to reach his second century of the match – the first man to do so at Edgbaston – and for Graham Thorpe to score a half-century on his 35th birthday. However, both were dismissed shortly after reaching their milestones, and wickets fell regularly thereafter.Trescothick was run out by a direct hit from Sarwan from the boundary for 107 (184 for 4), and Thorpe then charged down the pitch at Gayle and was stumped for 54 (195 for 5). After playing out a few overs, Flintoff unleashed some powerful strokes on Lawson to keep the momentum going, but he top-edged an attempted heave to midwicket off Gayle, and Bravo took a well-judged catch (226 for 7).Before that, Lawson bowled Geraint Jones through the gate with one that swung in through the air and moved off the pitch for his fourth wicket, and Gayle then wrapped things up, bowling Giles for 15 (234 for 8), trapping Harmison lbw and having Hoggard scoop a catch straight to Smith at mid-on. However, it was all academic in the end as England proved they had plenty of runs to spare.