On a flat Barbados pitch, England’s batters, led by Joe Root and Ben Stokes, did their job – posting 500 across five sessions, a rare treat for followers of this team in recent times.
Now, it is the turn of the bowlers, whose task is much stiffer, because they are so much greener than the surface they are bowling on. It is showing some turn for Jack Leach and there was bounce with the new ball, especially for one of two debutants, Matt Fisher – who struck with his second delivery in Test cricket – but there is some hard yakka ahead if England are to win this match and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
At stumps, West Indies are 71 for one, with England’s lead 436. So this was another excellent day for the team, but in particular it was a wonderful one for Stokes and all those lucky enough to watch him in full flight for the first time in a couple of years.
Stokes faced the first ball of the day, because off Dan Lawrence’s frustrating dismissal late on Wednesday. It seemed at one stage a couple of hours later, that he would become the first Englishman to score a century before lunch from a standing start (he scored 130 in a morning session during his extraordinary Cape Town effort in 2016, but already had 74 on the board by then).
He was to fall 11 runs shy of that remarkable feat, waiting until 40 minutes after lunch to bring up his 11th Test century, but it was still a remarkable display of hitting. He was especially brutal on the spin of Veerasammy Permaul and the seam of Alzarri Joseph. He had made a sedate start, taking 23 from his first 55 balls. By the time he had lunch, he had 89 from 92.
This was Stokes’ first century for 22 Test innings, and first since the death of his father Ged. Much has happened in that time, including a mental health break, serious injury, and a dismal Ashes tour. He celebrated in emotional fashion with a long look to the sky.
By then, Jonny Bairstow was at the other end. Through Stokes’ morning session blitz, it was easy to forget that Root was compiling another epic century. He made 153, his 12th score of 150 (the most by an Englishman), but was happy to play the junior partner, and was outscored almost three to one by Stokes in the morning session. Soon after the resumption, Root was lbw on review to Kemar Roach. Root left looking gutted, as if he had missed out on plenty more.
At that point, England only had 373 on the board, but they kept attacking. Bairstow, then Stokes, fell caught on the boundary, leaving Ben Foakes and Chris Woakes to put together a steady partnership of 75 to get them to the brink of 500.
When they reached that milestone, there was a flurry of quick wickets that brought the declaration, on 507 for nine, from Root. It was the first time England had made 500 since last February, and just the fourth time in almost five years.
That left 27 overs to bowl on day two, and a reward came almost immediately. While Woakes was driven for two boundaries by Brathwaite in his opening over, and Fisher’s first ball went whistling to the fence, he soon had revenge. John Campbell was simply too loose outside off stump, with Foakes taking a simple catch.
From there, England – who are missing eight seam bowlers for one reason or another – bowled pretty nicely, and there were near misses. Fisher thought he had Shamarh Brooks, on 13, caught very low down by Zak Crawley at second slip, but the umpire stuck with the soft signal of not out. Jack Leach had Kraigg Brathwaite given out lbw on 14, but his review revealed an inside edge.
The other debutant, Saqib Mahmood, was held back until the 18th over, and bowled sharply.
By stumps, Brathwaite and Brooks, two Barbados boys, had shared 57, and England were under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that faces them, even after two excellent days.
