England were 47 for one in their first innings at lunch against West Indies on the first day of the second Test on Wednesday at Kensington Oval.
At the interval, left-handed opener Alex Lees was not out on 16 and the visitors’ captain Joe Root was not out on 31, after the English won the toss and chose to bat.
Before a near capacity crowd, Jayden Seales got an early breakthrough for the Windies when he had opener Zak Crawley caught behind for a seventh-ball duck, making a decision too late to leave a delivery outside the off-stump in the fourth over of the day.
West Indies, however, failed to make further inroads into the England batting with Root and Lees spending the rest of the morning fashioning a solid base for the visitors.
West Indies are playing an unchanged line-up, but England have made two changes, bringing in Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher for their Test debuts to replace fellow pacers, Mark Wood (elbow injury) and Craig Overton (ill).
The Windies have not lost to England in nearly two decades at Kensington Oval, and they have lost only twice – in 1994 and 2004 – in the history of matches between the two sides at the iconic ground.
The first of three Tests in the series ended in a draw this past Saturday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, and the final Test will be played from March 24 at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada.
Summarised scores:
ENGLAND 47 for one (Joe Root 31 not out, Alex Lees 16 not out) vs WEST INDIES.
(AR)