OTD: Shai Hope guided West Indies to win their first Test in England in 17 years

August 29, 2017—a memorable day for the West Indies. On that day, the West Indies won their first Test in England in 17 years. A young Shai Hope was selected as man of the match for his effortless batting in both of the innings at Headingley. 

The match was a close fight between the West Indies and England, the host. England, led by Joe Root, went to bat first in the first innings. Then the England cricket team was going through a transition phase. So the team on the sheet was not evenly balanced. West Indies pacer Shannon Gabriel did not take too long to strike. The pacer cleared both of the openers, including Alastair Cook, with short intervals. Tom Westley, who came at number 3, returned to the pavilion quickly. England was 4 down, only 71. At that moment, Root and Ben Stokes came in the middle to rescue their team. With Stokes' 100 and Root's 59, England somehow managed to get 258 on the scoreboard. 

While most of the batters of the visiting side were unimpressive, Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope played differently. Hope came with 147, and Brathwaite notched 134. Jason Holder (c) and Jermaine Blackwood contributed with forty-plus scores from the lower middle order to take WI's first innings total to 427. 

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Hope delivered again 

England regrouped and replied with 490/8d in the second phase of the match. 6 of their 11 players played fifty-plus innings to cover up their first innings due and offered West Indies a competitive target of 322 runs. 

The target was stiff enough to chase down on the tricky surface of Leeds. Like the first innings, Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope again stood tall and delivered. Brathwaite missed another century by only 5 runs; Hope secured the milestone win for the West Indies by scoring an unbeaten 118 runs off 211 balls. Shai was then an emerging batter, 23 years of age, considered as one of the brightest prospects of world cricket, and got the man of the match award.