England in firm control after Day 1 of the final Test- England vs West Indies, Test 3, Day 1
The West Indies won the toss on the morning of third and final Test. Both sides made changes to their line-up in what was the deciding Test of the series.
The visitors, who opted to bowl first, made one change with Rakeem Cornwall coming into the side. England however, made two changes with Archer coming in for Curran and Anderson in for Crawley.
Sibley failed to carry his form from the last Test match into the final Test of the series. The Warwickshire batsman was out for a duck. Roach struck his pads right in front of stumps.
England captain Joe Root then came to the crease at three with a reshuffle of the England batting line-up. Root and Burns built steadily after the loss of an early wicket. This partnership came to a sudden end when an ill-advised run saw captain Joe Root ran out. Root once again failed to make a much-needed score.
England’s in-form batsman Ben Stokes came to the crease but failed to build on his impressive summer of batting. The Durham man was bowled out for 20 by Roach. This was a vital wicket for the visitors especially after his superb innings in the second Test match.
The constant in England’s innings Rory Burns got his well-deserved half-century but fell shortly after. Burns flashed at a wide ball from the spinner Chase, the ball caught the edge of his bat with Rakeem Cornwall taking a brilliant reactionary catch.
England then had two batsmen at the crease that desperately needed to make a score. Both Pope and Buttler had made starts but had failed to go on and make meaningful runs.
Buttler and Pope both played conservatively through the first portion of their innings, doing exactly what they needed to do in order to bat themselves into some form.
Both then began to open up and play expansively accelerating the run rate. Buttler aggressively attacked the West Indian bowling attack and began to play himself into some form after a long period defensive batting.
Pope and Buttler continued to score fluidly up until the West Indies took the new ball at 82 overs. The pair took England’s total past 250 whilst individually achieving key landmarks. Both achieving half-centuries with Pope moving towards his century.
The umpires then called an end to the days play due to bad light. Olly Pope ended the day on 91 and Buttler on 52 with England on 262-4. England were in firm control of the days proceedings and were in prime position to go on and score a large total in the first innings.
