It was a day of queues at Trent Bridge. There were queues for Brian Lara’s autograph during a book signing session by the great man at lunch, queues for the ice-cream vans at tea, queues for the bars throughout – pretty standard at an English Test match, admittedly – and batters positively queueing up to have a go out in the middle.
Although not every batter fancied it. There was sunshine over Nottingham, a pitch that looked well rolled, and an outfield as green as Robin Hood’s tights that had been mown to ensure an almost frictionless path for the ball. But Kraigg Brathwaite, West Indies’ captain and the sole Test centurion in his top five, won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Bazball was born on this ground two years ago, when Ben Stokes did the same against New Zealand and Jonny Bairstow utterly vaporised a fourth innings target of 299. But even factoring that remarkable last Test here, it felt like a negative move and one that had not aged massively well by stumps. Powered by Ollie Pope’s 121 and later burnished by 69 from Stokes, England raced to 416 all out in 88.3 overs.
Ben Duckett had very much signposted this possibility first thing. After the loss of Zak Crawley third ball the left-hander responded with a flurry of boundaries – including four in four off Jayden Seales’s first over – and talk of Gilbert Jessop’s cobwebbed record for the fastest Test century by an Englishman (76 balls) even began to percolate. That was until Duckett drove Shamar Joseph to slip and mooched off with 71 from 59 balls.
Instead, it was Pope who made the three-figure score that the conditions were practically begging for. The England vice-captain was not always at his fluent best and was dropped either side of his half-century and lunch. But given some nagging, admittedly external doubts about his suitability for No 3, the right-hander’s sixth Test century and first since that highwire 196 in Hyderabad in January was a welcome return to the runs column.
The same went for Stokes, who after his first half-century in 11 Test innings holed out off the part-time spin of Kavem Hodge trying to cash in before the second new ball. Stokes was not alone in this regard, Joe Root (14), Harry Brook (36) and Jamie Smith (36) all architects of their respective demises. Less culpable was Chris Woakes, whose useful 37 in his 50th Test match was ended by Seales, the second new ball, and an edge to slip.
It was tough going for West Indies who, despite bowling well in patches and throwing some late punches, did not exactly support Brathwaite’s call at the toss along the way. The first of those lives granted to Pope, on 46, was a tough one, the ball scorching off the middle to Alick Athanaze at backward point. But the second, shelled by Jason Holder at slip after going fingers-up to a chance at chest height, was a dolly.
Both were costly, while some of the ground fielding was a bit shoddy at times. The pressure felt from England’s aggressive intent only went so far by way of mitigation here.
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Perhaps the greatest frustration beyond the drops – four in total by the end – was Shamar Joseph who, despite halting Duckett’s early onslaught, walked off the field clutching his left hamstring for the second successive Test match. The biggest plus for the tourists was probably Kevin Sinclair stepping off the bench after Gudakesh Motie fell ill overnight. On a day when Brathwaite’s opening bowlers shipped a run a ball, the off-spinner offered control and threat for his captain with figures of two for 73 from 22 overs.
Sinclair is a bit of a showman, too, with the latest sold-out crowd treated to a wonderful somersault celebration when Brook tamely top-edged a paddle sweep after lunch. Sinclair told the BBC earlier this year that perfecting the leap was a way of staying out of trouble growing up in Berbice and Brook, whose earlier back-foot six might be the viral clip of the day, probably wished he flipping well had not.