Joe Root fifty drives England as West Indies battle on unforgiving deck

West Indies
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Crawley, Lees fall as Lawrence provides lively support for captain before tea

England 136 for 2 (Root 80*, Lawrence 26*) vs West Indies

Joe Root cashed in on a soporific surface with his second half-century of the series, but West Indies’ patient approach was rewarded with the afternoon wicket of Alex Lees on an attritional first day of the second Test in Barbados.

By tea, Root had moved along to 80 from 171 balls – an innings featuring two significant slices of good fortune, but one that grew in fluency the longer he endured, as he built on his second-innings century in Antigua last week with another ominous performance.

Alongside him at the break was Dan Lawrence, unbeaten on 26, as England were limited to 136 runs in 59 overs by a spirited West Indies attack who picked up a solitary wicket in each session. Crawley, fresh from his second Test century in Antigua, edged Jayden Seales to the keeper for a duck in the fourth over of the day, but Lees ground out a dogged 138-ball innings, spanning 45 overs, before being trapped on the back foot by the left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul for 30, the highest score of his fledgling career.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, England were perhaps mindful of the errors they made when collapsing to 48 for 4 in Antigua last week. Once again, there was a hint of early assistance for West Indies’ seamers, and at 4 for 1, after Crawley had been caught in two minds by a good seaming delivery from Seales, there was just the slightest threat of a repeat performance from the top order.

Lees, however, settled quickly into his day’s work as the threat of the new ball dissipated, with West Indies perhaps guilty of bowling too few deliveries that were targeting his stumps after his consecutive lbws in Antigua. Root, meanwhile, took a proactive approach from the get-go, with an early pull off Seales to get his innings going, followed by a brace of uncharacteristically loose drives through the off side from Alzarri Joseph, the second of which skimmed over the head of gully for four.

He chose to live dangerously in the early part of his innings, however. After West Indies had failed to overturn an lbw appeal that was shown to be sliding over the top of off stump, Root had his first big let-off on 23 when Jason Holder wriggled a length delivery through to the keeper via a tangle of bat and pad. West Indies, perhaps chastened by the loss of an early review, chose not to send it upstairs, and sure enough, replays showed that Root had indeed got a thin inside-edge as the ball went by.

Root’s big reprieve, however, came on 34 in the fourth over after lunch, when he deflected a leg-sided delivery from Roach straight off the face of his bat, only for Joshua da Silva to spill a low but catchable chance, diving to his left. Roach dropped to his haunches in despair, perhaps recognising how fleeting such opportunities would be on this unforgiving deck, and sure enough, Root barely offered another glimmer as he brought up a 125-ball fifty five balls after the drinks break with a punched single into the covers.

The cries of “Rooooooot!” from another packed English crowd had barely died down when Lees, one ball later, was nailed plumb in front of middle as Permaul cramped him from over the wicket, but Lawrence’s arrival singled a marked change-up in tempo, much as he had provided with his sparky declaration knock in Antigua.

Lawrence came close to running himself out for 11 as he took off for a tight single to mid-on, moments after battering Holder for back-to-back fours, his first such indignity of the series. But he was far from chastised when, three overs later, he skipped down the track to Permaul to launch England’s first six of the innings, and the pair had extended their stand to 54 by tea.

The day’s most dramatic developments arguably occurred before the toss, with the news that Yorkshire’s Matt Fisher had been drafted in for a last-minute debut, after Craig Overton had fallen ill overnight.

With Saqib Mahmood already inked in for his own debut, following confirmation that neither Mark Wood nor Ollie Robinson had been passed fit for this contest, it meant that England are fielding two debutants for the first time since Robinson himself and James Bracey had made their first appearances at Lord’s last summer.

Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket

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