![Ollie Pope](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386027908_17213257303410_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqx1nfjXkRV_f6ZlFUTxHWUADZq_nX-R4pVafvLB_RVgo.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Ollie Pope makes important century as England cash in on West Indies drops to build commanding score
![Ollie Pope](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386027908_17213257303410_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqx1nfjXkRV_f6ZlFUTxHWUADZq_nX-R4pVafvLB_RVgo.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Ollie Pope spoke this week about a renewed confidence in his batting and he proved his point with the first hundred of the England Test summer.
It was not Pope at his sparkling best. There were times when it was a struggle and he wafted at wide balls in what was a fairly chequered hundred. But there were also some sumptuous shots in his 121, the sixth century of his Test career brought up with his 14th four. As always with Pope, it is what comes next that is important. Can he string together a run of big scores or will this be another oasis in the desert?
To make 416 all out after being asked to bat first, at 4.7 an over as well, added up to a decent, not outstanding total. England lost six wickets in the final session and against one of the top teams it would have felt an opportunity missed to control the game. But this feels like an awful lot of runs for a West Indies side bowled out cheaply twice a week ago and is so inexperienced.
Unlocking consistency is Pope’s challenge this summer against weaker opposition so he has numbers and a body of work to fall back on when England play 10 Tests in 2025-26 against India and Australia. In 18 Tests against the two best teams in the world he averages 22, a mark inflated by his 196 in Hyderabad. Yet that remarkable innings ushered in not a period of dominance but another series that ended with his place the subject of scrutiny. At the moment he is a slayer of average teams, or player of great shots, but can be so much better than that.
He is vice-captain, which is not a sop because he is increasingly involved in decision making. He is approaching 50 Tests at the age of 26 and his five hundreds at No 3 is the most for England since Jonathan Trott. It is now time to play like a senior leader in the team and making a hundred when not playing particularly well is a great start. If his touch improves this could be Pope’s summer, the kind he has threatened but never produced.
Pope is capable of playing a wonderful stroke one ball, and a hack at the next without reason or pressure from the bowlers. One former England Test player yesterday likened him to someone who is constantly being tickled by a feather duster because he is always likely to move in unpredictable ways. But this was an innings of substance over style and he was a lot less jumpy at the start, the freneticism dialled down as he happily allowed Ben Duckett to attack.
In an interview with the BBC he said captaining Surrey recently in the Blast had convinced him of his status as a senior pro and talked of feeling more comfortable in his own skin. This innings came at just the right time.
West Indies bowled some superb deliveries at times but were mostly erratic, shelled four catches, with two off Pope, missed a stumping and were minus two of their bowlers. Shamar Joseph pulled up with a hamstring injury in his 12th over and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, their best player at Lord’s, went down with flu before the toss.
Inviting England to bat first on a beautifully sunny day at Trent Bridge was a dangerous move and once West Indies squandered an early strike with the new ball by feeding England a succession of four balls, this Test quickly took shape as another procession.
The morning started with homage paid to one of Trent Bridge’s own with Stuart Broad unveiling the plaque that marks the renaming of the Pavilion End in his honour. He would have enjoyed the ball from Alzarri Joseph that took Zak Crawley’s edge in the first over but then shaken his head at what followed next.
It was as if West Indies had never seen Duckett bat before, feeding him width as he whacked four fours in a row in the second over and propelled England to the fastest team fifty in Test cricket – off only 26 balls.
Duckett briefly entered Gilbert territory – breaking the fastest Test hundred record held since 1902 by Gilbert Jessop – but ran out of puff as West Indies tightened up in the second hour, falling for 71 off 59 balls when he was well held at second slip by Jason Holder, breaking a 105 run stand at nearly a run a ball.
Pope was dropped on 46 just before lunch by Alick Athanaze at gully, as West Indies tightened up in the second hour. It was a straightforward chance and it would arguably have been their morning at 134 for three had it been taken.
Pope was gifted another life soon after on 54 by Holder who messed up an edge that was far easier than the one he caught off Duckett. With Joe Root and Harry Brook both out to strange shots – Root changing his mind when playing a cut and Brook toe-ending a sweep because he lost his patience again – it was threatening to become West Indies’ day.
Joseph had bowled better than at Lord’s and was West Indies’ most consistent seamer but his lack of conditioning sums up their Test game. Back to back Tests call for stamina and fitness but Shamar has barely bowled since his heroics in Brisbane six months ago.
Motie was replaced by Kevin Sinclair, an off spinning all-rounder, and he bowled well despite not really turning the ball. He celebrated Brook’s wicket with a somersault and back flip.
Ben Stokes found a better balance between attack and defence in making his first fifty since Hyderabad but was caught on the legside fence off part-timer Kavem Hodge who had never taken a Test wicket before. It summed up a bitty England day.
England vs West Indies, second Test, day one – as it happened
Ollie Pope speaks to Sky Sports
A really good day, but we feel like we left a couple out there which is a good sign. The pressure Ducky put back on the West Indies’ bowlers... it’s such a quick-scoring ground, the outfield is lightning here. I’ve put in a fair bit of hard work before this series and know how they try and attack us as a seam attack. They dropped a couple of catches which was handy.
Scyld’s snap verdict
It was the most mundane and routine total of 400 that England have ever scored in a day. In other words it was pretty vibrant and entertaining stuff by any standard other than Bazball.
For the neutralish observer, the nicest feature is that it will be a four-innings match, and probably a four-day game, not like the three-innings Test that just staggered into day three at Lord’s.
Close of play: England 416 all out
In the spurious concept of ‘winning sessions’, West Indies win their first of the series by bagging six wickets since tea. After putting England in on winning the toss, bowling them out in 89 overs is a pretty good return, though England rarely bat for three complete sessions even when making a big total.
A sense of disappointment in that score? Yes, in that they lack the ruthlessness they are going to need in the future. No, in that they have still taken on West Indies’ strongest suit and made 400+.
But those four dropped catches hide what could have been another story altogether.
OVER 88: ENG 410/9 (Wood 12 Bashir 1)
Seales starts with a loosener and Woakes whips it off his pads for four. Next ball, though, is on the money and nabs the England all-rounder. Enter England’s new No 11, Shoaib Bashir, who gloves down the legside, short of the keeper, then chops a pull off the bottom edge for a single.
Wood takes Bashir’s arrival as an invitation to tee off and whooshes a drive at fresh air to a full one. So Seales gives him a vicious bouncer that Wood evades via the splice in front of the nose. What’s ‘You guys are history’ in Geordie?
One over to come.
OVER 87: ENG 404/8 (Woakes 33 Wood 11)
Woakes brings up the 400 by climbing aboard his pogo stick to tuck a bouncer off his ribs for four. The next ball is short, too but wider, and Woakes clubs it for two through cover. A single to farm the strike gives Woakes the chance of facing Seales by poking through cover.
OVER 86: ENG 397/8 (Woakes 26 Wood 11)
Woakes works Hodge for a two and a brace of singles while Wood gets out the driver for a single to long on.
Time for the new ball for the final overs of the day.
Chris Woakes just compiling a stress free 25 – admittedly not in the most taxing conditions – is another reason England will want to keep him about for a bit longer. He’s an outstanding No 8 in Test cricket, and for all that England have a talented crop of young bowlers, not many of them are capable of doing that role. The one who is a decent bat is Brydon Carse, but he’s currently banned for betting breaches.
OVER 80: ENG 372/8 (Woakes 10 Wood 2)
Mark Wood, who made decent contributions in the last two Ashes with the bat coming in at eight or nine, has been demoted to No 10. I would feel insulted if I were him.
It’s unlikely that England have blown this but it is very shoddy indeed from where they were at lunch and tea. As Nick wrote at tea. A decent side would punish them.
Da Silva misses a stumping when Wood walks down for a swipe and misses.
Hodge has two for 28, Sinclair two for 64.
Wicket!
Smith c Holder b Hodge 36 Another cheap dismissal. Smith had clobbered the previous delivery straight back over Hodge’s head for six and then has another go. It was certainly there to hit, a bit wider perhaps so he had to fetch it, didn’t middle it and carted it to wide long on where Holder had to run in and take it on the slide. FOW 367/7
OVER 75: ENG 356/6 (Smith 29 Woakes 5)
Woakes opens the face to run a single off Hodler down to the point boundary-rider. Smith is lured across his crease to try to flick a fuller ball fine that was angled across him but it nips back in to hit his right shin. Would have missed leg stump but there was always the danger of it spinning back on to the stumps.
Smith reads the outswinger and strokes it down through point for two then wraps up the over by smearing a half-volley through extra for four.
OVER 73: ENG 346/6 (Smith 22 Woakes 2)
Arsenal and England No2 goalie Aaron Ramsdale is in the Sky box now, here to watch his good friend Ollie Pope. He’s a cricket nut who had the chance as a kid to play for Staffs before football intervened.
Woakes keeps out Holder’s yorker then flicks a single through midwicket.
Nasser, once a Leeds fan, now tries to touch Ramsdale up for Arsenal tickets. He won’t be there next season, as well you should know, Nass.
Elegant Smith
Another change in England’s cricket: wicketkeepers hitherto have been strong square of the wicket when batting, being shorter than the average player. Not any more. Jamie Smith, being taller than average, favours the V (the arc between mid-on and mid-off) both in defence and attack. If any England wicketkeeper has driven more exquisitely through mid-on, I don’t know of him. If any England batsman has driven more exquisitely through mid-on, then it would probably be Joe Root and Smith’s Surrey antecedent Peter May.
OVER 72: ENG 344/6 (Smith 21 Woakes 1)
To be fair to Stokes, any batsman or batter worth their salt would have climbed into that long hop. It was slightly outside off stump but he just didn’t middle it.
Stokes walks off shaking his head, his helmet clamped on. In a slight funk.
That’s Kavem Hodge’s first Test wicket, and it’s a biggie. But it’s pretty filthy! A half tracker that should have been belted into the stands. Anyway, Stokes has had a lean run of it since a decent Test in Hyderabad at the start of the India tour, so it’s welcome that he becomes the final member of England’s top seven to register a half-century in this series.
OVER 71: ENG 342/5 (Stokes 69 Smith 20)
Shamar Jospeh is back on the field. Mercifully it was only cramp but that speaks off poor prep given it’s the second time in two Tests that he has been forced off.
Holder continues. Stokes glides a single off the back foot down to third man and gives Smith the strike.
OVER 69: ENG 332/5 (Stokes 65 Smith 14)
Holder has been causing Stokes problems with balls ramping off a good length from round the wicket but when he drops short, it sits up invitingly. So Stokes RSVPs and collars it on the pull for four. Holder goes back to a good length and Stokes runs it down to third man for two and then whips the attempted yorker fine for a single.
OVER 67: ENG 322/5 (Stokes 56 Smith 13)
Stokes tries to break the manacles by charging Holder and going for a slog to cow corner but it takes the leading edge and loops wide of long off. They run two. Staying at home, now, he check drives a single to mid-off. Smith sees out the over. Slightly becalmed but it should not be a problem if they can remain patient. Sometimes opponents only have to wait, to bore them out.
OVER 65: ENG 317/5 (Stokes 52 Smith 12)
Jason Holder has found a spot from round the wicket that trampolines the ball up to the left-handed Stokes, beating him for lift on the outside edge and then forcing him to loosen his grip and steer another lifter down in front of gully. Stokes gets away from strike by dropping another rising ball at his toes and is called through for a burgled single by the swift-footed Smith.
OVER 64: ENG 315/5 (Stokes 51 Smith 11)
Stokes slaps a single off the offie through cover and there’s a no-ball to add to the score. At the end of the over there’s some confusion about whether there were only five legit balls or the full six. Sky’s Mark Butcher and Ian Ward say their scorer counted only five but the third umpire confirms it was six.
Have lost count of the times umpires when playing or watching my son in club cricket routinely ask the scorer, ‘One to come?’
OVER 63: ENG 313/5 (Stokes 50 Smith 11)
Fifty for Stokes, brought up off 71 balls and by eassing a fullish ball from Seales through point for a single. More a defensive prod than a check-drive. Smith had given him the strike with an elegant drive to the cover sweeper for three as Seales errs too full once more.
It’s Stokes’ sixth half-century as captain to go with his centuries at Old Trafford against South Africa and versus Australia at Lord’s.
OVER 61: ENG 307/5 (Stokes 48 Smith 7)
Seales diddles Stokes with one that spits up like a cobra from outside off from round the wicket. Well, the pitch diddles him. He was trying to drive it off the back foot and ended up splicing it over the slips for four. Plundering a two and a single into the offside, he gives Smith the strike and the keeper-batsman plays that pull in front of square he delighted Lord’s with to hammer his first four.
![Ben Stokes takes evasive action](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386035070_17213172324510_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqAz32KgoGjHaBD-WEGUp8cAw7nuqVWVgdrBaIoaPdmLM.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 60: ENG 296/5 (Stokes 41 Smith 3)
Stokes is surprised by one that shapes away to the left-hander but nips back in and strikes him on the front thigh before cannoning into his left elbow. There’s a gasp and a rub of the funny bone for a blow that would have weakened many a batsman’s knees. As night follows day, Joseph follows striking the England captain with a short ball that he pulls hard for a single. Smith does a Pope and has a flashing drive at a wide one and squirts it past point for two. Alzarri gives Seales, the fielder who should have stopped it, a beseeching glare.
OVER 59: ENG 293/5 (Stokes 40 Smith 1)
Sinclair’s long hop on leg and middle is given the treatment by Stokes, whacking it fine for four and then the captain fiddles another single off his pads.
A much calmer and maturer innings than what has become the normal Ollie Pope fare. He supported Ben Duckett sensibly when Duckett was on fire, then took over and made the most of his two reprieves either side of 50. In other words Pope has strengthened his official position as vice-captain. But – a small but in this context – you suspect that he is still ready to throw the bat at anything outside offstump at any stage of his innings, and not just when he has passed his hundred.
OVER 58: ENG 288/5 (Stokes 35 Smith 1)
Streaky century from Pope ends with the third chance he offered to slip but the drops don’t go into the scorebook and all people 10 years hence will see is his 121, the 15 fours and a six.
Smith gets off the mark after his fine debut last week with a whisk through the onside for a single. Alzarri Joseph tests Stokes again with the short ball and the England captain pans a pull through midwicket for four. He middled that with murderous power.
Wicket!
Pope c Hodge b A Joseph 121 Went hard at a drive and nicked off to wide first slip. It flew at Hodge at head-height to his left and he took a good catch. One of those whose trajectory looks regulation until you also take the speed into account. Pope didn’t move his feet, just threw his hands at it. FOW 281/5
OVER 56: ENG 279/4 (Pope 120 Stokes 29)
Stokes defends a couple from Alzarri Joseph and then is disappointed to find point with a crashing drive off a no-ball. So much so that he throws caution to the wind and his bat at a lifting ball outside off, slicing it jammily over gully for four. Joseph tries him out on a flaccid-looking bouncer and he takes on the pull but is nowhere near it. It’s ugly batting but he is still there having made 0,2,0,2 and 4 in his previous five Test innings
OVER 54: ENG 267/4 (Pope 115 Stokes 23)
Alzarri Joseph resumes from the Radcliffe Road End, coming down the hill for the first time in the match. His second ball is wide and overpitches and Stokes cracks a square drive for four.
Joseph tries a different tack, bangs one in short and Stokes pulls it hard and flat and square for four. Pedal to the metal.
Tea verdict
Another solid session for England. Ollie Pope’s sixth Test hundred should settle him in nicely for the summer after a poor run and England can really accelerate in the evening session.
West Indies have bowled inconsistently, shelled three catches and shipped runs through misfields. They ended the afternoon session losing Shamar Joseph as well, who limped off clutching his left hamstring. England can really cash in after tea against a depleted attack with Stokes, Pope and Jamie Smith to come.
It has not been Pope’s finest innings and he was dropped twice, on 46 and 54, both catches that should have been taken, but at least he has stayed in this time. Substance over style for once from him.
Harry Brook gave his wicket away, toe-ending a sweep after getting tied down for five overs, which is becoming a theme. Teams will now play on his patience, knowing he will offer up a chance.
Bowling is West Indies strong suit so 259-4 looks very ominous. Shamar was bowling well, with more control than at Lord’s but his lack of conditioning reflects the fact West Indies just do not play enough cricket these days, this series being their first six seven months. A better team would have England in trouble today. West Indies are talented but green and another one-sided game is brewing.
TEA: ENG 259/4 (Pope 115 Stokes 15)
Not the fireworks of the first session, that Brook onslaught on the erratic Alzarri Joseph apart. Both Tykes, Root and Brook, rather gave away their wickets in a manner that would cause Ticker Mitchell to spin in his grave. “Does tha not like battin’, lad?’
Anyway, England are in the ascendancy and will be hoping to build a score that enables them to win while batting only once.
OVER 53: ENG 259/4 (Pope 115 Stokes 15)
Shamar pulls up lame after three balls. It’s not the end of his Test, he came back from doing the same at Lord’s to continue, but this one seems to be a groin issue. Any road, it delays tea by five minutes and Brathwaite finishes the over with three of his slow catapults, Pope and Stokes fiddling his darts through the offside for a single each.
Huge shame but doesn’t look good for Shamar Joseph, for the second consecutive Test: the perils of not playing any first-class cricket for five months before a Test series. That’s partly a result of the T20 World Cup, which meant an unusually slow start to England’s international summer and even less time than normal for warm-up matches.
OVER 52: ENG 255/4 (Pope 113 Stokes 13)
Pope and Stokes miss two singles apiece off Sinclair, three through the offside, one, from Pope, with the turn to deep backwards square. This is the first half-century partnership for these two since that double hundred they put on at Port Elizabeth/Gqebehra in early 2020, just before Covid struck. This is the 15th time they have batted together since.
OVER 51: ENG 251/4 (Pope 111 Stokes 11)
Seales digs one in to Stokes who picks it up early but is a bit cramped on his pull so top-edges it to long leg for two. Sayles berates Louis for his fielding, believing it should only have rendered a single. Seales pitches the next one up and Stokes whisks it through midwicket for two more then ends the over en pointe, slapping a single through mid-on.
No one would want to jinx Stokes but there are healthy signs in his gear-shift here.
OVER 50: ENG 246/4 (Pope 111 Stokes 6)
Sinclair bowled very well this morning and at the start of this spell but his line in the past couple of overs to the right-hander has been a little too wide of off stump and he continues in that vein to Pope, giving him the opportunity, risk-free, to smack two twos between point and cover and arrive at 111, his own, personal, Nelson. Reach out, touch faith.
OVER 48: ENG 238/4 (Pope 107 Stokes 2)
Stokes, who averages 24 in his past nine Tests after his brilliant hundred at Lord’s last summer, taps a single down the ground off Sinclair after Pope had pushed two through cover and drilled a single to point.
![Ollie Pope kisses the badge](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386026720_17213127762990_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqJrge3om1cyJA6ywDzSXynx6c5xjCm5YiUNOFRRp75c.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 47: ENG 234/4 (Pope 104 Stokes 1)
A groan from the crowd when Pope flicks at one angled across him and the four is signalled as leg-byes. But the next ball from Holder is short but doesn’t get up. Pope pulls it nonetheless and skelps it for four.
Pope since June 2022 under Stokes’ captaincy and at No 3: 1,579 runs in 22 Tests at 42.67 with five hundreds.
Stokes under Joe Root: 1,032 runs in 23 Tests at 28.66 with one century.
Ollie Pope’s century here two years ago, in the Test that marked the real start of the Bazball era, cemented his new role at number three. After a tricky period since his stunning 196 in Ahmedabad, this is a timely hundred. Far from at his best, but substance over style is better than style over substance, the usual charge levelled at Pope
OVER 42: ENG 203/4 (Pope 77 Stokes 1)
Kevin Sinclair’s second Test wicket in his second Test is celebrated like the first with a cartwheel and somersault. He has bowled really well having come in as a late replacement for the injured Motie. An ugly shot from Brook.
Enter Ben Stokes to a loud ovation and he gets off the mark second ball by whisking one off the back foot through square leg.
Against a better side England would be in real trouble today. West Indies have created seven chances, taken four and I reckon conceded 20 runs in misfields, easing the pressure. Brook has a problem with his attention span. England scored seven runs in 29 balls after his six and that dismissal was just his patience snapping and trying to fashion a run from anywhere. It could be why he is troubled by the short ball theory. It is not necessarily a technical problem with the bouncer, just an inability to see out a few overs without scoring.
OVER 40: ENG 200/3 (Pope 76 Brook 35)
Back comes Kevin Sinclair and with this abysmal over-rate he’ll have to bowl a long spell to get them anywhere close to parity by 6.30pm.
The offie starts with a tight over, beginning with four dot balls until Pope uses his feet to smear a single down through mid-on and Brook farms the strike by spearing one out of the blockhole to the point sweeper. It also brings up England’s 200 at five an over on the nail.
We’re off to see the Wizard…
Nice video here of Joe Root presenting Chris Woakes with his 50th cap. I’ve been thinking that in recent weeks, people’s emotions around Jimmy Anderson’s enforced retirement have meant that Woakes has been rather talked down. Yes, he is 35, but he is more than six years younger than Anderson, and was player of the series in last year’s Ashes. Then, he averaged under 20 and Anderson averaged more than 80. My personal take is that as England build towards the 25/26 series, they do have space for one veteran home specialist, and to me it makes sense to select the younger model with a better recent record who also is a No 8, not a No 11.
OVER 39: ENG 198/3 (Pope 75 Brook 34)
Talking of probing, that’s what Holder does these days. He pounds ball after ball down t’corridor, Brook lets two go, drives for two with the help of Louis’ misfield and two more by virtue of two misfields, a fumble at cover by Louis followed by an overthrow. Who’d be a bowler?
Louis makes amends with a fine diving stop at extra-cover, turning what should have been a four for a sweet drive into a dot ball. So he’s 1 up on the over.
Time for drinks.
OVER 38: ENG 194/3 (Pope 75 Brook 30)
A maiden for Shamar to His Holiness, Pope playing it orthodox fashion, probing, finding fielders. Time for a change, Jason Holder will replace the wayward Alzarri for the ore-drinks over.
It is a nice and bright seeing day, and that makes such a difference in two ways. Firstly, the obvious one: clearer daylight in which to see the ball. Secondly, the spectators are wearing bright clothing here in the sunshine of Trent Bridge: lots of white hats and white or yellow shirts, which forms a good background for fielders. So why are West Indies close fielders dropping three catches in the first three hours – Ollie Pope twice, Harry Brook once? Because, primarily, they hit the ball so hard – and the slips and gully are fielding in old-fashioned positions, no allowance made for the T20 era.
OVER 37: ENG 194/3 (Pope 75 Brook 30)
Brook, becalmed for a couple of overs, wakes up with a roar. It’s a perfectly respectable ball, probably fourth stump, tailing in and he jabs it over third man for six. No room to free his arms. No bother. Extraordinary stroke. England Cricket might post a clip. If they do I’ll stick it on here.
OVER 35: ENG 184/3 (Pope 71 Brook 24)
Athanaze drops Brook but there is some mitigation. The ball flew at gully as Brook went for the back-foot drive, diddled by the inswing, and Athanaze, masochistically close in, was lucky to escape being a victim of dental disintegration as he threw his hands in front of his face to parry it away, hurting his finger in the process.
Still, a maiden for Alzarri J having been tonked in his preceding over.
OVER 347: ENG 184/3 (Pope 71 Brook 24)
Pope has been his usual combination of sublime and streaky when making a decent score. Seales sighs (so tempting to write ‘squeals’ but it wouldn’t be accurate) when Pope essays an expansive drive to the channel outswinger and Harrow drives/French cuts it for four to fine leg, the ball whistling past off stump. The next ball is a pie, short and wide and Pope lamps it over cover for four more.
West Indies seized the initiative and are spraying it all up the wall. The bowlers’ pitch maps look like a snooker table after an earthquake.
![Alzarri Joseph](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386018154_17213092105480_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf_4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 33: ENG 176/3 (Pope 63 Brook 24)
Alzarri replaces Shamar. The Josephs share a surname but, of course, as cricket aficionados know, it is hard to find more than a handful of West Indian Test cricketers who share the same Christian/first name. There are so many uniquely monikered legends.
Brook tucks in, smiting three successive fours, off filth. The first is a cover drive, hit gloriously on the up, the second a flick off the toes, as deft and oily wristed as a classical Indian batsman and the third a brutally cleaved square cut.
His previous square cut in the over had gone down, rather than up, and bounced into the face of the diving Sinclair at backward point.
OVER 32: ENG 161/3 (Pope 62 Brook 10)
This replacement ball is behaving as West Indies might wish. Brook throws the bat at a Seales outswinger and nicks it over the head of gully for four. So Seales goes shorter and Brook slices it over the same fielder with more control and panache for four more.
Australia saw a conspiracy in a replacement ball last summer. How daft was that?
OVER 31: ENG 152/3 (Pope 62 Brook 2)
Pope’s beans are jumping again and he flashes a drive at Shamar and nicks off to second slip where Jason Holder drops a routine chance, the ball bursting through his hands as he swayed to his left and first slip, Hodge, can’t reach the rebound.
“Swing, Brookie!” shouts Pope. I think he knows, Ollie.
OVER 30: ENG 143/3 (Pope 54 Brook 1)
Seales bowled two unplayable deliveries in a terrific over, the first angling in to Root and nipping away to beat the outside edge and whistle past off stump and then, having discombobulated him, bags him with an innocuous back of a length delivery that Root horribly misjudges. And at the end of over he beats Pope with another ripper that angles in and snakes away.
OVER 29: ENG 142/2 (Pope 54 Root 14)
Having passed 50, Pope allows himself a woolly waft outside off at Shamar and then tries to show his contrition with a textbook forward defensive, straight out of Harry Altham’s MCC manual that was still de rigueur in schools in the late 70s. Shamar Joseph drops short and Pope pulls off the bottom edge, collaring it for four then chisels out a fuller one with such force that he knocks the ball out of shape sufficiently, finally, to persuade the umpires to change it.
OVER 28: ENG 138/2 (Pope 50 Root 14)
Seales bowls a heavy ball at 84mph. Not express but you can sense it jars when Root defends a couple after Pope flicked the first, full one through square leg for a single.
A lot of encouragement for Seales from one of his team-mates whose voice, but not what it is saying, can be clearly heard above the hum of the Nottingham crowd. Root punches a single off the back foot through cover and Pope brings up his 50 when Seales attempts the yorker that drifts in, like a sandshoe crusher, but pitches three inches too soon and Pope jabs down his bat and takes a single off the inside-third of the toe behind square.
OVER 27: ENG 135/2 (Pope 48 Root 13)
Shamar Joseph, who bowled well this morning, giving his captain some control by bowling a top of off line, starts the second session and straightway he has Pope on the front foot but not middling the ball as he tries a flick and two pushes to inswingers. A misfield by the captain, diving at midwicket, gives Root the strike and Shamar Joseph immediately switches from inswingers to 4th stump, Root leaving one and defending one, nose above the ball, elbow bent, holding the pose before smiling and skipping up the pitch for a wander.
A scarcity of hundreds
Good afternoon. Bagchi here, taking over from Smyth. Apropos Will’s point below. England have made only six centuries in the past 11 Tests, Joe Root’s at Edgbaston in the Ashes and at Ranchi bookending Ben Stokes at Lord’s, Zak Crawley at Old Trafford, Ollie Pope at Hyderabad and Ben Duckett at Rajkot.
Lunch verdict
England are set for the afternoon and a big score to control the second Test. West Indies decision to bowl first on a belting pitch backfired because of the waywardness of their bowlers and inability to cope with Ben Duckett’s counter-attack on the ground where Bazball was born.
Zak Crawley’s third-ball duck in the opening over appeared to justify Kraigg Brathwaite’s defensive call at the toss but the bowlers could not keep up the pressure feeding Duckett width on both sides of the wicket as he set the ball rolling with four fours in a row and England raced to a new record for the fastest team fifty in history – off 26 balls.
It was rollicking stuff as Duckett hit 14 boundaries in his first Test on his home ground while Ollie Pope settled in a lot calmer than recent times providing good back up support. Duckett’s fifty off 32 balls was the quickest by an England opener and suddenly Gilbert Jessop’s name was banded around again as the fastest Test hundred became reality.
Duckett slowed up when Shamar Joseph bowled a tighter line from the newly minted Stuart Broad End and spinner Kevin Sinclair was tidy too in a better second hour for West Indies. England had raced to 56 for one off the first six overs – almost as good as their best powerplay in the recent T20 World Cup – and were 86 for one in the first hour. It slowed with 48 added in the second hour. Duckett was caught well, low down at second slip by Jason Holder off Joseph and if Pope had been held at gully in the final over, it could arguably have been West Indies’ session.
Lunch
A breathless session, this. Great to watch for England fans. It would be nice to see an England player get very greedy this afternoon. Duckett’s was a wonderful innings, but we’ve now seen six members of the top seven get a fifty in this series without anyone go on to a hundred. Centuries – big ones – are so key to winning Tests in Australia, and England need to develop a slightly more ruthless streak. Pope has just had a stroke of luck. Can he make it count?
OVER 26: ENG 134/2 (Pope 47 Root 13)
Pope is dropped on the stroke of lunch! He back cut Seales towards gully, where Athanaze put down a very sharp chance. That would have made it an even session; instead it belongs to England and especially Ben Duckett, whose riotous 59-ball 71 gave England an extraordinary start. West Indies pull it back pretty well in the second hour, but they have work to do.
Incidentally, that boundary took Root above Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene and up to ninth place on the list of leading Test runscorers. The next man in his sights in Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who is around 50 runs ahead.
OVER 24: ENG 126/2 (Pope 45 Root 7)
Pope has happy memories of playing at Trent Bridge. Two years ago he made 145 against New Zealand on this ground, his first century in his new role at No3. Bar one or two strokes he has played carefully, with a bed and breakfast mindset.
Root gets his first boundary, clipping Seales through midwicket. Both teams will be happy enough as we approach lunch - England because of where they are, West Indies because of where they were. The first 12 overs disappeared for 86; the last 12 have cost only 40.
OVER 22: ENG 118/2 (Pope 43 Root 1)
Jayden Seales, whose two overs with the new ball were pummelled for 28, retuns to the attack. Root is beaten by a full-length jaffa that moves very late, and Seales returns with a maiden. You don’t see figures of 3-1-28-0 every day.
![Jayden Seales in action.](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386010124_17213040447450_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqOteZPuJZ0QHE72RjNfH2-7CAXk_LxhDsjjs5_ukcFwc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 21: ENG 118/2 (Pope 43 Root 1)
Before drinks England were scoring at 7.17 runs per over; in the first eight overs after the break they scored at 2.38.
Pope gives that figure a boost by hitting Shamar Joseph for 10 in two balls, an excellent pull followed by an extravagant pick up for six. England have punished the bad ball mercilessly.
Wicket!
Duckett c Holder b S Joseph 71 Shamar Joseph is rewarded for a fine spell. He moved around the wicket to Duckett, who clobbered him for four but then edged an outswinger to second slip. Holder got down smartly to his right to take a fine catch.
Duckett goes for an exhilarating 71 from 59 balls. Now he can go and witness the birth of his child. FOW: 105/2
OVER 18: ENG 101/1 (Duckett 67 Pope 31)
Duckett hits the first boundary since drinks, sweeping Sinclair through square leg on the full. That brings up the hundred partnership as well as the England hundred; Zak Crawley’s third-ball duck feels forever ago.
“It’s all calmed down a little here,” writes Will Macpherson at Trent Bridge, “which is remarkable when you think that England are 101 for one after 18.”
OVER 12: ENG 86/1 (Duckett 60 Pope 23)
Duckett clatters Holder through the covers for four more. An exasperated Holder tells the man to go back to the boundary and switches to around the wicket. The rest of the over passes without incident or boundary.
That’s drinks. Surely, in the long history of Test cricket - all red-ball cricket - no team has put the opposition in and gone at more than seven an over in the first hour.
![England have started well on a glorious day at Trent Bridge.](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386004514_17213009530580_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqcpoWzwBIzlnewd68KzIvqPctAPMNiKvlkcZf6zNr5hc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 11: ENG 82/1 (Duckett 56 Pope 23)
Shamar Joseph replaces Alzarri at the Stuart Broad End. He was very rusty at Lord’s but is the kind of character who will relish this challenge. A fraction of width allows Pope to flash a back cut for four; it feels like Pope has started watchfully and he’s 23 not out from 27.
I think we can say, without fear of contradiction, that Kraigg Brathwaite probably made the wrong decision at the toss.
So now what?
What can West Indies do after sending England in to bat on a belter? Post three slips and everyone else around the boundary perhaps? Or completely take the pace off by Kraigg Brathwaite bowling his own very slow offbreaks? The old-fashioned way was to take wickets, to slow down the rate, but that does not apply any longer.
OVER 10: ENG 76/1 (Duckett 55 Pope 18)
Duckett steers Holder through point for four to reach a thrilling fifty from only 32 balls, including 11 no-frills boundaries. It’s the fastest by an England opener and the third fastest overall:
- 28 balls Ian Botham v India, Delhi 1981-82
- 30 balls Jonny Bairstow v New Zealand, Leeds 2022
- 32 balls Ian Botham v New Zealand, The Oval 1986
- 32 balls Ben Duckett v West Indies, Trent Bridge 2024
The fastest England century, the Gilbert Jessop stat that has been imperilled in the last two years, is 76 balls.
![Ollie Pope congratulates Ben Duckett.](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386003475_17213001413610_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq2VKqipSsR5sZe-Dun7vUTqlKWWVmrahtm4rJIaUKAkA.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 9: ENG 68/1 (Duckett 48 Pope 17)
Pope has been anything but frenetic this morning. He’s happily building an innings in Duckett’s shadow; in fact he’s scored only 1 off this last 12 overs.
A good over from Alzarri includes a sharp bouncer that beats Duckett’s attempted hook. West Indies enquired for caught behind but the only thing is brushed was Duckett’s helmet. Duckett is 48 not out from 31 balls.
OVER 6: ENG 56/1 (Duckett 38 Pope 17)
A desperate Kraigg Brathwaite turns to Jason Holder, his most accurate bowler. He calms things down with a maiden to Pope, and almost takes a wicket when Pope checks a shot that loops just past Holder’s outstretched hand.
![Jason Holder tries to catch Ollie Pope off his own bowling](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386002199_17212995239700_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqOHNs0Y5vwBZmXiYbjSVrpLxlL4JJZFr6G2BGlsAngeI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 5: ENG 56/1 (Duckett 38 Pope 17)
Duckett hits four more off Alzarri to bring up the England fifty in 4.2 overs - that’s the fastest on record for any team, one delivery quicker than that Gooch/Atherton partnership I mentioned. “The Bazballers of their day...” deadpans Athers on commentary.
The orgy of boundaries continues with a businesslike pull from Duckett, who is 38 not out from 17 balls on the first morning of the Test. He’s not the greatest opener of all time, not even in the top 100, but he is unique: he hardly ever leaves the ball and his strike rate of 87 is the highest of any opener who has made 200 Test runs. Even Virender Sehwag, the ultimate Bazballer, scored at 83 runs per 100 balls.
![Four more to Ben Duckett](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386000867_17212988622400_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqxf0udJPckKC_3Kw9fqS3Nb6Xj2WECU5tGTp4vDMBGsY.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Where it all started
Well, Trent Bridge is the birthplace of Bazball so this onslaught from Duckett and Pope is to be expected on a fast scoring ground where a well timed shot that beats the infield will go to the boundary. There are only four players in this England team from the Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand in 2022. Stokes, Root, Crawley and Pope are the survivors.
OVER 4: ENG 44/1 (Duckett 27 Pope 16)
This is getting silly. Duckett times Seales sweetly to the point boundary to make it 39 from the last 14 balls.
Seales restores a soupçon of order with three straight dot balls, including an underedge that bounces short of the keeper da Silva, but then Duckett guides another boundary to third man. This might be England’s fastest start to an innings since Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton went mad at the Oval 30 years ago.
Duckett has 27 from 12 balls, Pope 16 from 9.
Bazball on steroids
Amazing, even in this day and age. After the first hour of a traditional Test match, the score would be 35-1 at drinks. Now England have got there after three overs! fast outfield of course, but still.... the pace of Test cricket in the T20 era continues to amaze.
![Ben Duckett hits another boundary](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000386000205_17212984070780_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqcCUlY4ecowelYv5R9cM4V0_DGE7IxQQy6D-WbGOM9zo.jpeg?imwidth=350)
OVER 3: ENG 35/1 (Duckett 18 Pope 16)
Alzarri Joseph beats Pope, who then cuffs a pull for two. Joseph is getting movement but has been slightly short, and England are scoring runs far too easily. Pope slashes a back cut for four, then clips through midwicket for another.
England have scored 35 runs from the last 13 balls, on the first morning of a Test. What kind of sick world are we living in.
OVER 2: ENG 23/1 (Duckett 18 Pope 4)
Ben Duckett is in a hurry at the best of times; today, with his partner due to give birth, he is unlikely to hang around. But I don’t think any of us expected him to hit his first four legal deliveries for four! Stunning batting.
Seales started with a wide, then was crashed twice to the cover boundary. When Seales adjusted his line, Duckett clipped through midwicket for another. Then when Seales went back too far the other way, Duckett lasered him through extra cover.
OVER 1: ENG 4/1 (Duckett 0 Pope 4)
Ollie Pope gets England going with a fine drive to the left of mid-on for four.
West Indies promised a response - just as they managed in Australia after losing in Adelaide in ten wickets in January. Alzarri Joseph needs just three balls to square up Zak Crawley, who is brilliantly taken in the slips. Superb slip catching was a feature of West Indies’s victory in Brisbane.
A crucial hour ahead
As we all said... brilliant decision to bowl first! There’s a bit in the pitch, and the Windies may have about an hour to exploit it. What a start from Joseph, and a very fine catch from Athanaze diving left at third slip.
![Zak Crawley departs for nought.](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000385998427_17212973553340_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqDg7yincUoRGZjT6F6XLJ6FNtnoM-NERwjCuHuA-9e9c.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Wicket!
Crawley c Athanaze b Joseph So that’s why they bowled first: Zak Crawley has gone third ball for nought! He’d already been hit on the arm by Alzarri Joseph when he was squared up by a length delivery and edged low to third slip, where Alick Athanaze swooped to take a fine two-handed catch. FOW: 0/1
Team news
One change apiece, both enforced: Mark Wood for Jimmy Anderson, Kevin Sinclair for Gudakesh Motie.
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Woakes, Atkinson, Wood, Bashir.
West Indies Brathwaite (c), Louis, McKenzie, Athanaze, Hodge, Holder, da Sillva (wk), Sinclair, A Joseph, S Joseph, Seales.
A batting day at Trent Bridge
Good morning from Trent Bridge, where it’s an absolute scorcher. This is such a great ground - -every seat feels close to the action, and it’s a very manageable walk from the ground. It’s changed a bit today, as the Pavilion End has been renamed in honour of Stuart Broad, who retired from all cricket at the end of last summer’s Ashes and is on duty with Sky as a commentator.
![Stuart Broad is back on his home ground](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000385992803_17212949048580_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqwMpl-Jpdv5EMZZkofEupHOyEA__MmDc0hQxjdbkS2u8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Unwell Modie replaced by Sinclair
Blow for West Indies this morning with the news left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is out of the match after waking up feeling unwell. Motie was arguably their best bowler at Lord’s, bowling Ben Stokes and Joe Root with two excellent deliveries. He is replaced by allrounder Kevin Sinclair, a better batsman but probably less accomplished bowler, who played one Test in Australia last year. He likes a backflip when he takes a wicket.
Mark Wood talks to Sky Sports
I’m ready to go. I haven’t had loads of overs off the back of the T20 World Cup but I feel fresh, I’m not coming off an injury or anything. Hopefully I can find catch up on those overs and find some rhythm. There’s nothing like being on the field.
It’s great to have Jimmy still in the dressing-room, passing on his knowledge, and we see Broady in the morning. But yeah, it’s a bit of a shock to the system. I hope people aren’t expecting me to bowl like Anderson – that’s definitely not gonna happen!
[On his increase in pace] Trevor Bayliss inspired me when he said I need a bit of mongrel, then I lengthened my run-up in 2019.
[On his scintillating performance at Headingley when he came into the side last summer] I felt great – I felt 100 per cent on it. I think it’s like being in the zone as a batter. Your legs feel weightless.
Echoes of a glorious past
There is an enduring wonderfulness, in this ever changing world, about Trent Bridge in all its freshness on a Test match morning in July. Better still, for all but the most fanatical England supporter, would be an echo of the West Indies at TB in 1950 when Frank Worrell stroked – not hit – 261. It was recognised at the time as the finest strokeplay.
![Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes walk out to bat at Trent Bridge in 1950](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000234213530_17212938166440_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqhaQcnQgX1lblZ3yiN-_RsOW2zJDeZ4Suazlpcy3wgw8.jpeg?imwidth=350)
How Atkinson overcame death of mother to become England’s new star
Gus Atkinson picked up a cricket ball in his childhood bedroom. Then, he turned to his father and vowed: “I want to bowl for England, I want to take five and I want to hold the ball up and say: ‘Thanks, Mum.’”
It was December 2020. The day before, Atkinson’s mother Caroline had been killed in a car crash. In the family home in Wandsworth, his father, Ed, sat down with Gus, who was 22.
![Gus Atkinson bowls in the nets](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000385888603_17212936117600_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNPhrcbGWe8WGow_9GPLWLE2l6AK09TgzZdO0Hvf_W-0.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Nick Hoult’s Test preview
Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson may well be one of the most mild mannered attacks England have fielded and it is a conservative selection too picking two men past the age of 34 and not blooding debutant Dillon Pennington when the stated aim for moving on from Anderson was to give games to potential match-winners in Australia in 18 months’ time.
Twenty-one years later
This is the first day of the rest of English cricket’s life, their first Test since the retirement of James Anderson. If you want to feel really old, look at this team – the XI they picked for the last Test before Anderson’s debut in 2003: Trescothick, Vaughan, Butcher, Hussain, Key, Crawley, Stewart (wk), Dawson, Caddick, Hoggard, Harmison. Our own Michael Vaughan slammed a majestic 183 as England beat Australia at Sydney.
![James Anderson is at Trent Bridge in his new role as England's fast bowling mentor](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000385993095_17212942990330_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqVZAa4tDDIMq9-Ka4KSDCOIGQJvZBr8odXyhG7dzbLsU.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Good morning
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second Test between England and West Indies at Trent Bridge. Test cricket could do with some Robin Hood action: last week’s mismatch at Lord’s highlighted the increasingly dangerous gap between the haves and the have-nots, and we could really do with a proper contest this week.
West Indies should be better for the match practice, particularly the two Josephs, and their astonishing victory in Brisbane in January came after an equally demoralising defeat in the first Test.
England’s plan is to scorch them while they’re down. Mark Wood will join Gus Atkinson, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes in a mouthwatering seam attack. Then again, on the last two occasions England picked two proper quicks – at Southampton in 2020 and Edgbaston in 2021 – they were beaten by West Indies and New Zealand respectively.
It should be fun to watch, whatever happens. “You ask any batter in the world, whether it be Joe Root, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, pace is a massive weapon that makes you do different things,” said the England captain Ben Stokes. “It makes you think differently. But also there has got to be skill attached to your pace.
“Gus showed that last week, that he’s more than just an out-and-out quick bowler, he’s incredibly skilful. As is Mark Wood. The ability for him to be able to bowl as quickly as he does but have the control and swing as well is something that’s very rare in someone who bowls that fast.
“It’s an added bonus having people who you can select who can bowl at 90mph and above, but you still have to be very skilful with what you’ve got.”
Or, as Michael Holding succinctly put it, pace is pace.
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Woakes, Atkinson, Wood, Bashir.
West Indies Brathwaite (c), Louis, McKenzie, Athanaze, Hodge, Holder, da Sillva (wk), Motie, A Joseph, S Joseph, Seales.
![Ben Stokes arrives at Trent Bridge for day one of the second Test.](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2024/07/18/TELEMMGLPICT000385992846_17212941482970_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaHd6X3lW3lGv45Ug3tlONZ3XVdg1rRzimPdm_Jg3Voo.jpeg?imwidth=350)