Joe Root picked up where he left off in Antigua to bring up his quarter century of Test hundreds at the spiritual home of West Indies cricket.
The England skipper has in fact managed to roll over his remarkable 2021 into a pretty decent start to 2022 with a second successive hundred of the year to reinforce his greatness. But far from raising his bat in response to the raucous home support there once was here, no doubt securing their respect along the way, he did so in front of a crowd that sang his name as loudly as if it were a sunny Saturday afternoon at Headingley.
Those who have made it out here witnessed a fine return on their travelling investment, and not just because they saw the captain hit three figures again, but because while Root shone, Dan Lawrence sparkled. The Essex batsman strolled to the crease at number four and proceeded to put on a heck of a show, but with a century there to be had on day two he coughed up the chance by being caught at cover in the final over of the day for 91.
It took him 12 balls to get off the mark, but from the moment he sent his 16th and 17th balls whistling to the leg side boundary, he was off and running and he gave the innings real impetus. He took a liking to the gentle left arm spin of Veerasammy Permaul, cutting hard at anything short and sending one delivery into the mid-wicket stand for six.
The 24-year-old was batting like a rockstar, and with a swagger that hasn’t really been seen in an England shirt since Kevin Pietersen wielded a bat around the world. Pietersen’s great mate and former West Indies big hitter Chris Gayle was spotted enjoying the show while on stage in the party stand.
And one gets the sense that if Lawrence wasn’t actually out in the middle performing, there is only one stand he would be watching the game from along with Gayle. Thankfully for England his strokeplay was enough to get the party started, bringing up his fourth Test fifty from 62 balls with Root going to his 25th ton from 199 deliveries the ball after.
That’s eight hundreds in his last 36 innings for Root and along the way he passed 2,000 runs since the start of 2021, the next closest is Rishabh Pant on 1,077. Root’s brilliance is beyond dispute and this knock had all the usual touches of class, but he rode his luck too, surviving a non-review on 23 when he got an inside edge and was caught behind, and then when he glanced Kemar Roach down the legside and was dropped by Joshua Da Silva on 34.
Earlier Zak Crawley went for a duck, but Alex Lees spent some good time in the middle in making 30, and it wasn’t Roach that did for him this time. His 16 not out at lunch was the lowest score by an England opener in a full session before lunch since 1984, but he did his job and took plenty of shine off the ball.
Batting coach Marcus Trescothick said: "Joe will be delighted as we are as a team with that hundred. It was a pleasure to sit there and watch him perform.
"He is right up there with some big names in the game and there is no reason why he won’t continue. The approach he has and the mental discipline he has makes it a joy to work with him.
"Having the younger lads coming in and putting scores on the board is a nice place to be. Dan's played a pretty good innings today. It was brilliant and he did everything right.
"It was a shame the way it ended, but that happens in the game, I've experienced it plenty of times and they are really annoying but you use them to make you better for next time."
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