Lunch England 134 for 2 (Duckett 71, Pope 47*, Root 13*) vs West Indies
West Indies, who won the toss and opted to bowl, made a dream start with a wicket on the third ball of the match when Alzarri Joseph lined Zak Crawley up with a back-of-a-length delivery on target which drew a chunky edge for Alick Athanaze at third slip.
But Duckett and Pope settled into a 105-run partnership off 112 balls as the former peppered the perimeter and the latter steadily built his innings.
Despite the imminent arrival of his first child, Duckett was supremely focused in the middle. He found the boundary four times in a row off Jayden Seales in the second over, two glorious extra cover drives bookending a cut in front of point and a clip through midwicket. He helped himself to two more in Seales’ next over and another, off Alzarri Joseph this time, brought up England’s fifty in just 26 balls, the fastest for any team in Tests.
Jason Holder conceded just one run when he was brought on in the sixth over, by the end of which England were 56 for 1, but when Holder continued, Duckett despatched a shorter ball over extra cover and drove down the ground to move from 40 to 48. He brought up his fifty off just 32 balls guiding Holder for four through deep third.
Both sides made just one change each, West Indies bringing in Kevin Sinclair for Gudakesh Motie, who woke up on match-day morning feeling unwell, and England replacing the retired James Anderson with Mark Wood.
It was Sinclair and Shamar Joseph who found some control for West Indies after the drinks break. But then Duckett threatened to break free when he lunged forward to sweep a full delivery from Sinclair for four to bring up England’s hundred and punished a wide one from Shamar Joseph through the covers.
Shamar Joseph was rewarded after bowling excellent lengths and generally tight lines however when he drew an outside edge from Duckett and Holder held on at second slip.
Pope, who had pulled Shamar Joseph into the stands for six to move to 43, was dropped on 46 in the final over before lunch when he struck a Seales delivery hard towards wide gully, where Athanaze failed to hold on. At the lunch break, Pope was joined by Joe Root on 13 not out.
