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Thursday March 28, 2024

Cook, Root lead England recovery

By our correspondents
August 18, 2017

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: The first day/night Test in England saw Alastair Cook and Joe Root in the familiar position of rebuilding the innings after the West Indies made early inroads at Edgbaston on Thursday.

England were 108 for two at lunch on the first day of the series opener, with Cook exactly 50 not out and captain Root, who won the toss, 40 not out.Former skipper Cook and successor Root had so far added an unbroken 69 for the third wicket.

They joined forces at 39 for two after Test debutant Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley were both dismissed for eight.After Cook got off the mark on the first ball, fellow left-hander Stoneman’s first two scoring shots in Test cricket were both fours.  Roach produced a superbly sharp delivery that pitched on middle stump and clipped the top off to clean bowl Stoneman and leave England 14 for one.

Westley was then lbw on review after missing a drive off first-change Miguel Cummins, with replays showing the ball would have smashed into the middle and leg stumps.But Cook, who had a lucky break when he edged West Indies captain Jason Holder through a gap in the slips, and Root repaired the damage with a succession of boundaries.

Just before the interval Cook, England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer, completed a 74-ball fifty including 10 fours.  —AFP

England won toss

England 1st Innings

A Cook not out         50

M Stoneman b Roach 8

T Westley lbw b Cummins    8

J Root not out 40

Extras (w2)    2

Total (2 wkts, 27 overs)      108

To bat: D Malan, B Stokes, J Bairstow, M Ali, T Roland-Jones, S Broad, J Anderson

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-39

Bowling: Roach 8-2-32-1 (2w); Joseph 5-1-33-0; Cummins 7-2-21-1; Holder 6-2-20-0; Chase 1-0-2-0

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, Shai Hope, Kyle Hope, Roston Chase, Jermaine Blackwood, Shane Dowrich (wkt), Jason Holder (capt), Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph, Miguel Cummins

Umpires: S Ravi (IND), Marais Erasmus (RSA). TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL). Match referee: David Boon (AUS)