Kraigg Brathwaite turned out to be the near-immovable force West Indies needed to save themselves from a loss after a lackluster bowling performance in first innings against England. Brathwaite stayed at the crease for 710 minutes, sharing partnerships with seven batters to help West Indies bat for more than two days and post 411 in their first innings after conceding 507 runs against visitors.
Only former West Indies skipper Brian Lara has stayed longer at the crease than Brathwaite. Lara stayed for 778 minutes when he became the first batter to score 400 in a Test match in 2004. A decade before, he scored 375 for which he stayed for 766 minutes at the crease. Interestingly, Lara's big knocks came against England as well.
On the other hand, Brathwaite scored 160 runs during his marathon stay at the crease for six sessions (approximately). He faced 489 deliveries (81.3 overs) during his chanceless innings and scored 17 boundaries at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados.
The biggest partnership he shared was with Jermaine Blackwood who scored 102 runs from 215 deliveries including 11 boundaries. The two shared a 183-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Eventually, Braithwaite was the seventh wicket to fall in West Indies' first innings. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach got the better of him with the one that spun sharply and beat him around the legs.
The 29-year-old became the third batter to bat longer than 700 minutes and not score a double century after India's Sunil Gavaskar and Pakistan's Shoaib Mohammad.
While it was the third-longest innings by a West Indies batter (by minutes spent), it was 22nd longest innings overall. Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad holds the record for longest Test innings as he spent 970 minutes at the crease against West Indies to score his 337 runs.
