Southampton: England are 35/1 at the end of the second session of what has been a rain-hit Day 1 of their first Test against the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday.
Opener Rory Burns and Joe Denly held fort for the hosts after they lost Dom Sibley for a duck in the second over of the innings. Only 17.4 overs could be bowled in this session with rain forcing a brief break in between.
The first session of the day was washed off and the toss took place after Lunch. England’s stand-in skipper Ben Stokes chose to bat first and teams took a knee before the start of the proceedings to honour the Black Lives Matter movement. Kemar Roach started the attack with Shannon Gabriel and the latter dismissed Sibley off the fourth ball of his first over as the 24-year-old left a ball that swung in and hit his stumps.
The umpires led the players back to the dressing rooms after the next over before they came back 20 minutes later. The return however didn’t last long as rain returned after seven balls and the players ran back into the pavilion.
The action resumed almost 50 minutes later and this time, Burns and Denly saw out the spells of Roach and Gabriel.
West Indies captain Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph replaced them and after the fourth ball of the 18th over bowled by the latter, umpires halted play and led the players off the pitch once again. Tea was called for soon after. Burns has made 20 runs off 55 balls while Denly is on 14 off 48. Both batsmen have hit three fours each.
Gabriel remains the only wicket taker and gave 19 runs in his five overs while Roach bowled six and gave away just two.Seamer Stuart Broad was left out of a home test match for the first time since 2012 .
James Anderson returns after injury but his regular partner Broad misses out, as does Chris Woakes, as high-speed duo Mark Wood and Jofra Archer spearhead the attack.“We feel with Woody and Jofra’s pace adds another dimension,” said Stokes. The teams are meeting in a “bio-secure environment” at Southampton’s Ageas bowl with daily health checks for everyone in the ground – which doesn’t include fans.
It is 117 days since England’s warm-up match in Sri Lanka was abandoned due to the COVID-19 threat and no cricket has been played since.
Brief Scores: England 35/1 (Rory Burns 20, Joe Denly 14; Shannon Gabriel 1/19) (IANS)
