There is hardly a better sight than watching James Anderson sprint in and disturb the woodwork of batters in the red ball format. The 188 Test veteran produced yet another remarkable delivery for cricket fans and their memory bank on Thursday as he castled the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite with a gun inswinger.
The event unfolded on the first delivery of the ninth over during West Indies' second innings as Anderson ran in to provide the first breakthrough of the innings for the Three Lions. With the seam pointing towards fine leg, Anderson pitched the ball on a good length, outside of Brathwaite's off-stump and it jagged back sharply to knock the West Indian's middle pole out of the ground.
Watch how James Anderson cleans up Kraigg Brathwaite
The West Indies skipper was found wanting and was beaten by the sharp movement. The delivery helped Anderson pick up his 702nd victim in Test cricket and he followed it up by dismissing Alick Athanaze late on day two to grab his 703rd and his third wicket of the match.
The visitors are in total disarray, having lost six wickets for just 79 runs inside 35 overs. They are still behind England by 171 runs.
England playing XI:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson
Bench:
Daniel Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Dillon Pennington
Support staff:
Brendon McCullum, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick, Jeetan Patel, Neil Killeen
West Indies playing XI:
Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
Bench:
Kevin Sinclair, Tevin Imlach, Jeremiah Louis, Zachary McCaskie
Support staff:
Rawl Lewis, Andre Coley, Kenny Benjamin, Rayon Griffith, Stuart Williams