Half-centuries from Joe Root and Harry Brook have helped stretch England’s lead to 172 on day two of the first Test against West Indies.
Having bowled the tourists out for 121 on Wednesday, England moved to 6-293 on the second morning at Lord’s as Root (68) and Brook (50) shared a stand of 91.
West Indies conceded 104 runs in the first session as the series opener continued to slip through their fingers on Thursday, but spinner Gudakesh Motie produced two brilliant deliveries to prevent the hosts from running riot.
Motie ripped one devilishly out of the rough to clean bowl captain Ben Stokes for four and then knocked back Root’s off stump just before lunch, leaving Jamie Smith in charge of the remainder of the innings on debut.
With perfect overhead batting conditions England wasted no time building on their overnight score of 3-189, reeling off 42 runs in the first half-hour.
Brook was quick to find his timing, driving Jayden Seales for the first boundary of the day.
Root was equally keen to feel ball on bat and followed up with four fours in nine deliveries, ruthlessly dispatching anything that drifted towards his pads.
Things were beginning to look painful for West Indies when Brook stepped back and pulled Shamar Joseph’s short ball for six into the Mound Stand, bringing up his half-century in just 55 balls.
But Brook’s enthusiasm was about to get the better of him. Shaping to hook another bumper from Alzarri Joseph, he looked as though he might pull out of the stroke before sending a top edge straight up and into the gloves of Josh Da Silva.
That brought Stokes to the crease, but his short stay was ended by a moment of class from Motie. The arrival of a left-hander brought the footmarks into play and he got one to spin viciously outside the England skipper’s off stump and flatten middle stump.
Motie had nothing quite so appealing to work with against the right-handers but stuck to his task and eventually snuck one past Root’s outside edge with just enough turn to take the bails.
Smith had earlier got off the mark by hacking a drag down for four and added two more boundaries as he reached the interval 16 not out.
Source Agencies
