Ollie Pope makes important century as England cash in on West Indies drops to build commanding score

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.

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.

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. 

Bashir c Holder b Alzarri Joseph 5 Holder swoops low again at second slip when Joseph finds the No 11’s edge. And he looks like a proper No11.  FOW 416 all out. 

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. 

Woakes c Holder b Seales 37 Angles into him, holds its line and Woakes, hanging back, nicks off to second slip. Holder dives low to his left to take it.  FOW 408/9

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. 

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. 

Woakes torments Hodler at mid-off with an off drive that forces him to stretch his aching limbs in a futile chase as the ball arrows down for four. 

Deft by Woakes to scoop two over his shoulder then to drive a single. Wood sweeps hard for two but doesn’t middle it and also drives for a single . Impressive contribution from these two spinning batsmen. 

Not exactly declaration batting by England off the spinners. A single each bookends Sinclair’s over. 

Mark Wood is trying to rein in his instincts and doesn’t attempt a big shot but takes three with a very nice dab down through third. He is batting too low!

England are given another life – Mikyle Louis drops Wood diving at point. It was low but should have been taken. A fourth dropped catch of the innings. Poor Sinclair. 

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. 

Atkinson c Hodge b Sinclair 2  Big drive and nicks off low to slip who took a smarty catch tumbling forward.  FOW 370/8

England have made 400 in their first innings in 25 Tests since Stokes became full time captain in 2022 only six times and they may fall short again today. Atkinson gets off the mark with a flick round the corner. 

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

Sinclair returns to make it spin at both ends and England take him for three singles. 

Just the single off Hodge as West Indies try to hug the wall unobtrusively as they approach the new ball. 

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. 

A little more caution shown towards Hodge now, Woakes pushing two singles in the arc through cover and point and Smith easing a drive down to the cover sweeper. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Stokes c sub (J Louis) b Hodge 69  Oh dear. He hangs his head after holing out to cow corner. The pull off a long-hop loops straight down the substitute fielder’s throat. Jeremiah Louis takes a stride in from the rope and takes it, helping Hodge to his maiden Test wicket. FOW 342/6

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. 

Hodge is given some punishment in the last over before drinks, Smith pivoting to muller his long hop for six after Stokes had chopped a two and a single into the offside. 

There are 75 minutes left. I think the charge is coming. 

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. 

A change of spinner – the left-armer Hodge replacing the offie Sinclair. Nice start, particularly round the wicket to the right-handed Smith as he loops the ball above his eyeline. Stokes takes two singles and Smith one.  

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. 

Consolidation from England who play out four dot balls of Sinclair’s 17th over and work a single each into the legside. 

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.  

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?’ 

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. 

Stokes hangs back to drill a single off Sinclair through cover and Smith works another off his pads. Stokes keeps talking to himself at the non-striker’s. He is in constant dialogue.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

No trumpeter today so a chap in the crowd improvises the Great Escape theme with a rolled-up programme. Just the pair of singles off Sinclair. 

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

Change of ends for Kevin Sinclair, too. Nice shot from Pope, leaning on to the front foot and stroking a straightish ball through cover for four. 

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. 

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.

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.  

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

First boundary for Stokes off the returning Seales who gives him an opportunity to free his arms and he drives square off the back foot, beating the point sweeper.

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. 

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

Pope moves to the verge of a sixth Test century with two twos and a four, reverse sweeping and driving Sinclair for a pair of deuces, sweeping him for four fine and then tapping a half-volley through mid-on for a single to reach 99. 

Too many gimme balls from Holder, giving Pope a half-volley to cream between mid-off and extra-cover for four. The nxt ball floats tamely towards middle and Pope whips it through midwicket for three. 

Pope takes a single off Sinclair’s first ball, spearing the arm ball through cover. Stokes plays out the rest of the over with a full face, looking for gaps but finding none. 

Just when West Indies try to turn the screw, Holder giftwraps a pie on Pope’s legs and he moves into the eighties with a flick fine for four. 

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. 

Brook c McKenzie b Sinclair 36 Tried to paddle the off-spinner off off and middle, caught the ball with the toe and spooned it towards silly mid-on. Short leg covered the ground to complete the catch. Sinclair completes a joyous cartwheel with a back somersault. Lovely!  FOW 201/4

Holder is a 78mph bowler these days in his later spells and is not going to be able, despite his height, to test Brook’s iffiness under a barrage. He pitches it up, leaks a single when he loses his line but is otherwise tight. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

Shamar returns to join his kinsman and racks up five dot balls until he strays on to Pope’s pads and the vice-captain insouciantly glances it fine for four.

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. 

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 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. 

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? 

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. 

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. 

Root c Alzarri Joseph b Seales 14  Cloths a pull high to mid-on and Joseph, who makes a hash of his first attempt, pouches the sitter with great relief at the second. The ball before had missed Root’s off-stump by a whisker and he made the least of his ‘life’.  FOW 142/3 

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.  

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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? 

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.

Root has found his timing now. A wristy pull for four off Alzarri takes him into double figures. Even with a relatively quiet second hour, England are going at five an over.

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.

Alzarri Joseph replaces Shamar and concedes three from a quiet over. Root hasn’t yet found his timing and has 3 from 13 balls.

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.

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.

Sinclair hasn’t done much with the ball - it’s the first morning - but he played his part in the wicket by helping Shamar Joseph to slow England down. Another quiet over gives him figures of 4-0-14-0.

The Windies’ outfielding has been pretty horrible this morning – a number of really basic errors – but they have held two really excellent slip catches now.

That was the last ball of the over.

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

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.”

Pope tries to pull Shamar and is beaten. Apologies for the brevity, we’re having one or two technical problems.

Just eight runs in four overs since drinks, which is a victory of sorts for West Indies. The problem is they put England in, and when you do that you don’t want your spinner to be drying up before lunch.

I like the maturity with which Ollie Pope has batted in support of Ben Duckett - apart from his waft at Shamar Joseph. Signs of calmness in Pope’s batting are as rare as they are welcome. 

Stuart Broad, commentating on Sky, says Shamar Joseph’s stride pattern and rhythm look much better than at Lord’s. So does his economy rate: he has figures of 3-1-9-0 and almost takes his first wicket when Pope swishes at fresh air.

And now for something completely different: the offspin of Kevin Sinclair, who came into the side this morning when Gudakesh Motie woke up feeling unwell. A quiet first over, two from it. Gilbert Jessop’s record looks safe: Duckett has 61 from 46 balls now.

The early signs are good for Shamar Joseph, whose second over is an accurate maiden to Pope.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jason Holder won’t be bowling any maidens to Ben Duckett. A full ball is smoked through extra cover for four, then another is rifled whence it came for Duckett’s 10th boundary. He’s faced 29 balls and this is officially bonkers.

A Test match is starting to break out at Trent Bridge. Alzarri concedes only two from his seventh over, one of which was a no-ball. 

Ben Duckett has 40 from 23 balls, Ollie Tavare has 16 from 17.

England’s highest score after the Powerplay in the T20 World Cup was 60. This time, they are 56-1: a half hour of bedlam after losing Zak Crawley third ball. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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

It really does look like a batting day at Trent Bridge. The first hour should tell us whether Kraigg Brathwaite was right to bowl first.

Anthem watch: Ben Duckett is here (no baby yet, then...) but he’s not stood between the two tallest players! No Stuart Broad or Ollie Robinson now, but Zak Crawley and Shoaib Bashir are big lads.

Fresh from unveiling the new Stuart Broad End, Stuart Broad rings the bell just before the players line up for the anthems.

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.

So much for it being a batting day. Ben Stokes says he was bit undecided what to do, and he’s not telling us anyway.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

Ben Duckett’s partner is due to give birth, but he is at the ground and on course to start the game. The plan is that he will leave as and when required.

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.