Second Test, Kensington Oval, Barbados (day two): |
England 507-9 dec: Root 153, Stokes 120, Lawrence 91; Permaul 3-126 |
West Indies 71-1: Brathwaite 28*, Brooks 31* |
West Indies trail by 436 runs |
Scorecard |
The second day of the second Test between England and West Indies featured a swashbuckling century by Ben Stokes.
The West Indies bowling was overwhelmed by the power of England&s 507-9 declared.
After scoring 89 runs in the morning session, he reached his 11th Test ton shortly after lunch.
The all-rounder hit 11 fours and six powerful sixes before he was eventually caught trying hit part-time spinner Kraigg Brathwaite over the ropes again.
Matthew Fisher had John Campbell caught behind with his second delivery after England had passed 500 for the first time in 13 months.
West Indies went through to 71-1 at the close thanks to Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks.
That still leaves the hosts 436 runs behind, with England in control on a good batting pitch, but one that is starting to offer support to the spinners.
The day will be remembered for the best century of his career by the 30-year-old, but also for the fact that Fisher made a fine start to his Test career.
He got off the mark with a stunning on-drive to his 10th ball, followed that with two imperious shots through the off-side and never looked back.
It had been 18 months since he reached three figures for England, a period in which he has been injured and taken an extended break for his mental health. He built on England's solid platform on the first day to move them into a position that is highly unlikely to be lost.
During the second hour of the day, he unleashed brutal shots to almost every ball. He hit reverse sweeps off Veerasammy Permaul and crashed both spin and seam down the ground.
The senior spinner of the West Indies, Permaul, had to be taken out of the attack. He was hit for 18 in one over, including a towering six over long-on which took the all-rounder past 5,000 Test runs.
After reaching his 12th score of 150 or more in Tests, his scoring slowed a little. With hardly a chance, the century was never in doubt. He died when he tried to hit Brathwaite for a third time.
The tourists were able to declare at 424-6 because of a steady stand of 75 between Chris and Ben Foakes.
Fisher shared the new ball with Chris woakes.
His first ball was hit to the deep point boundary, his second was 86mph and tempted Campbell to edge through to Foakes for four.
Thousands of England fans in the stands and Fisher on the field were treated to heart-warming celebrations.
Fisher was bowling well and could have had another breakthrough, but the edge of the bowler's bat dropped short of Zak Crawley at slip.
Saqib was held back until the 18th over but made a good start.
Jack Leach was the greatest threat. The West Indies captain overturned the decision that he had taken, as he had nicked the ball.
The only real alarms for West Indies were those.
There are signs of turn and bounce that will aid England's cause over the final three days.
We had a good two days here. The middle order came in and played the way that they were set up by Dan Lawrence and Joe Root.
I took the option of attacking and trying to score as many runs as possible in a short period of time because the pitch might make it difficult to take 20 wickets.
It is amazing how much the pitch changed in the last half hour. There were a few balls for Jack Leach which turned and bounced so it will be interesting tomorrow.
Jonathan Agnew is a cricket correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Big sixes and strong drives. No cricket ground is big enough when he is in that sort of mood.
They were stubborn. England will have to prise them out tomorrow.
The pitches in the Caribbean are a concern for Kemar Roach, the West Indies pace bowler.
It is all dead tracks now. It is concerning to me as a fast bowler. A group of fast bowlers are coming through.
We need to have a discussion about how we can improve the pitches and bring back electric cricket to the Caribbean.