Pope (121) leads England to 416 on opening day against West Indies

Ollie Pope’s sparkling century led England to 416 on a hectic first day of the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge.

Number-three Pope arrived with the hosts 0-1 and caressed 121, adding 105 for the second wicket with Ben Duckett, who scored rapidly in the first hour.

Opener Duckett may have to leave this match if his partner goes into labour and batted like a man in a hurry, hitting the first four legal deliveries he faced for four. He was threatening England’s fastest century in Test cricket before he was dismissed for 71 from 59 balls.

Pope took advantage of being dropped on 46 and 54 to reach three figures from 143 balls, before captain Ben Stokes made a welcome 69.

The skipper was one of a number of England batters who found a way to get out, particularly to off-spinner Kevin Sinclair and left-armer Kavem Hodge.

In a chaotic end to the day, England lost their last five wickets for 74 runs, West Indies took their tally of drops to four and Mark Wood survived a stumping chance off Hodge.

Wood and Chris Woakes took England past 400, before the latter and Shoaib Bashir fell in successive overs, Bashir to the final ball of the day.

England, 1-0 up and with the chance to win the series, are in a strong position, but one that could have been stronger.

England take initiative on action-packed day

There was enough action and incident on a sun-soaked first day in Nottingham to fill an entire Test.

It marked the start of a new England era, this is their first home Test without James Anderson and Stuart Broad since 2012. Anderson is part of the England staff and Broad was honoured by the Pavilion End of his old home ground being renamed after him.

Trent Bridge is where Bazball was born with the thrilling run chase against New Zealand in 2022. When the Windies won the toss, they gave England the chance to score quickly in beautiful conditions, albeit if Stokes said was undecided over what he would have chosen.

The tourists’ decision looked a good one as Zak Crawley was out to the third ball of the match, but apart from Sinclair’s somersault to celebrate his removal of Harry Brook – Sinclair is playing in place of the ill Gudakesh Motie – it was mainly downhill for West Indies from that point.

The visitors’ pace bowling was wayward, their catching wasteful and ground-fielding sloppy, while Shamar Joseph again struggled with a left-leg injury.

England had their share of poor moments, most glaringly the shots to get out by Joe Root and Brook, the latter who had also been dropped by Alick Athanaze.

In between was some glorious strokeplay, not England going at full throttle, instead skilfully taking advantage of West Indian generosity, small boundaries and a lightning outfield.

It was breathless stuff and terrific entertainment as England gained the platform for their new-look attack to examine the fragile West Indian batting on Friday. (BBC)