Joe Root hit another century as England took the lead in the second Test on the first day in Barbados.
If caught Root behind on 23, he could have been dismissed. He was dropped on 34, but he ended up with 119 not out, his 25th Test tonne and second in two innings as the tourists closed on 244-3.
England’s rise was a little slowed down by the loss of Dan Lawrence at the end of the day after he scored a brilliant 91.
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Lawrence looked like he would score his first Test hundred after he and Joe Root made a brilliant, aggressive stand of 164. In the last over, Lawrence hit Jason Holder to extra cover.
Root’s opener, Zak Crawley, was caught behind for just a duck in the fourth over. Alex Lees, who made 30 from 138 balls, built a foundation for Root’s team.
A late wicket helped the West Indies, who had been wasteful on a flat pitch before that.
Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher made their debuts for the tourists earlier. Matt Fisher was a last-minute replacement for Craig Overton, who could not play because of illness.
Late wicket takes the shine off England’s day.
Before Lawrence was fired, England was on its near-perfect day.
Lawrence, one of the young batsmen who had a chance to play in this series after the Ashes loss, had his best Test innings. Their captain had scored another stunning hundred.
But the 24-year-old, who may have been thinking about three figures and had already hit two balls for four, went for a Holder ball outside off and took a catch. It would have been the second-to-last ball of the day.
Many people cheered when the West Indies, who had been a lot better than Holder had been for most of the day, hit back.
On the other hand, Lawrence had to drag himself off the field as thousands of England fans cheered.
This means that even if England scores a score close to 400, it’s likely that they’ll still be ahead.
There was much scoring in the first part of the day, so the West Indies will now try to keep England from getting more than that score.
