Yorkshire pair dig in with performance that will leave Boycott purring

England lead by 207 after a fourth-wicket, unbroken partnership of 108 between Joe Root and Harry Brook. The match is nicely poised but England must be 80-20 favourites even after a good day for the West Indies. 

The sides have slugged themselves to a standstill for today. This century partnership has put England back on top, but at least there is so much time left in this game that West Indies won’t have to chase their target in a hurry - they will be able to stroll, and grind it out, and wear down England’s bowlers if they can, as well as chase. 

Brathwaite comes round the wicket for his off-breaks and Root reverses him for a single before Brook late cuts him for another four. What is so annoying about being late cut for bowlers. Is it that it looks chancey? 

The last ball is a full bunger and Brook bunts it for a single. 

Brook opens the face to glide Seales off the back foot with a vertical bat for four. The next ball is a touch shorterer so he back-cuts it with a horizontal bat between slip and gully for another to bring up the hundred partnership. Brook’s tip and run to mid-on takes the lead to 200. 

This is the second hundred partnership between the sons of Sheffield and Burley after they made that 302 in Wellington 17 months ago. 

Seales is seething about Brook’s approach and how streaky it looks. He gives him an earful after he tries another late cut, playing and missing. 

One over to go. And the captain decides he’ll bowl it himself.  

In fact it’s a barrage for both from round the wicket from Alzarri. But the pitch is not conducive and both Tykes pull for singles, rolling their wrists. Brook does it a second time for a single to midwicket. Root stands with his bat high like Graham Gooch. 

Brook asks for  drink with two overs to go. The umpire turns down his request and he cheerfully says: ‘Oh well, worth a try.’

The crowd has thinned out (partly because a few have been thrown out), but they enjoyed Harry Brook reaching his half-century there. This has been a fine innings, and the stand of 85 has put England back on top, you would say. Three or four overs to keep it that way before stumps.  

Hodge hurts his finger when diddled by a Brook edge that shot through his legs along the ground at slip after he jammed his hand down on it and couldn’t stop it. They run two. Brook pulls Seales for a single as Hodge exits the field for treatment. Brathwaite sets the field for a barrage at the start of the next over. 

Fifty for Brook, his ninth to go with the four overseas centuries. This is his sixth in England, brought up with a crunching off drive for four. Alzarri tests him with the short ball and Brook calmly rides the bounce to pull it for a single. Root skelps the straight one off his pads for a single.

England lead by 184.

Mark Wood is the new Nighthawk. Stokes has told him to pad up. 

Root is beaten by Seales outside off and fiddles after the ball as it zips away from the bat. I think he was more done by the bounce than the movement. Maiden to start this new spell by Seales. The sky has brightened over Nottingham. 

And that piece of fielding tees Alzarri J up for a new spell with 30 minutes of play left. Root opens the face to ease a single through point and Brook, after being hit amidships and off his feet by the nip-backer, climbs into a pull and carts it through midwicket for four.

After backing away in a premeditated attempt to slash a short ball over the slips and being beaten, Brook pulls hard and flat for a single. As does Root.  

Sinclair is known as ‘Sinky’ by Da Silva. It’s quite an endearing nickname, especially in JdS’s rich Trinidadian lilt. England milk the offie for four singles and a two, the latter by Brook whipping it out to Alzarri as the midwicket sweeper. 

Brook is invited to take a risk outside off and accepts, uppercutting Holder’s wide, short one over slip for four. Another cut, this one carved downwards, gives him a single and the strike off the last ball. 

Root brings up the 200 with a creamy, dreamy cover drive for four off Sinclair followed by a back foot clip for a single to point. They may not like the light but England are motoring along nicely here. Two wickets would darken that perspective and given Trent Bridge is a great chasing ground – think England two years ago against NZ or against SA in 1998 – they cannot get complacent. 

Root is simmering about the light and would have been spitting feathers had he been given out leg-before when pinned by Holder as he pushed forward. Given he is taking guard 2ft outside his crease, he was on the front foot and Holder is 6ft 8in, Da Silva persuades his captain not to review it though Holder was saying, ‘It was straight’. 

Root props on to the front foot to drive a single through point to bring up the fifty partnership. Brook uses his feet and kicks the ball away from Sinclair who saw him coming and tried to dart it through for the stumping. Brook thwarted that but could not run a leg-bye as he hadn’t played a shot. Brook ends the over by opening the face to smear two behind square. 

There’s an ongoing dialogue between the umpires and Root over the light which is very gloomy now. 

Root is beaten by a Shamar jaffa that angles in and nips away but next ball plays a gorgeous cover drive for four, taking a big stride and harpooning it past the fielder. After Root flicks a single off his pads, Brook drives and thick edges it through gully for two. Joseph is frustrated because he was teeing him up to nick off to gully by going fuller and wider and he almost fell for it. 

Root shapes to reverse sweep, pulls out when the ball drifts a bit more and pats it round the corner instead. He does reverse the next ball, though, cuffing it to third man for a single. 

Shamar J is OK to continue. Brook throws his hands at a wide one and slices it over point for a single. They are trying to tempt him with fuller balls now. Brook needs new gloves one over after the drinks break. Get on with the game.

Time for spin. Sinclair will replace Noddy Holder.  

Shamar jars his right shoulder after bulleting in his throw. As Ian Ward says, looks like a ‘stinger’. I remember them well before I dislocated my right shoulder and lost completely the ability to throw.

Brook check-drives two to the cover sweeper and works three through midwicket when Holder errs too straight.  

On come the drinks. 

England lead by 138. 

The next step in Rocky Flintoff’s sharp ascent. He’s in Lancashire’s squad for their friendly against Cumbria ahead of the MetroBank Cup. That suggests to me that he will make his List A debut next week. He made a century for England U19s against Sri Lanka this week. 

A single each for Root and Brook. It’s raining in Derby I’m told but still obviously clear up the A52. 

Holder sees Root charging and bangs it in. Root pirouettes and pulls it off the splice for a single, rolling his wrists. 

Brook aborts a hook to a very high bouncer and watches it pass his nose and is then struck in the solar plexus by a nip-backer that ramped off a good length. 

Double change. Shamar Joseph replaces Jayden Seales. Root whips a straight, full one down to fine leg and sprints home for a very tight two. Root is stung on the leg between thighpad and pad as he tried to leg glance. That will be purple in the morning. 

Holder replaces Alzarri J. Both Tykes use their feet, Root walking towards Holder to square drive for a single, Brook striding down to off drive for four. The bowler drags back his length and Brook chops a cut into the turf to point for a single. Root, batting miles outside his crease, pats a straight ball through square leg with a twist of the wrist for a single. 

There’s some proper aggro in the Fox Road Stand. The stewards, who are largely older gents in smart green blazers, are attempting to remove a few well-oiled boys. Not easy work.

You can clearly hear ‘Sacked in the morning, you’re getting sacked in the morning’ being sung loudly by that stand to the stewards. 

Brook hangs back to work a full ball through mid-on for two and then digs out a grubber from Seales to square leg for another.  

Root walks across his stumps to tickle the ball into his pad and it runs fine for four. 

The umpires have a discussion about the light but carry on for now. 

Brook is quickly on to Alzarri’s bouncer and uppercuts it for four. They had a man there in the last over but had moved him. Brook is backing away to open the onside and it’s a risky strategy. First he hacks it into the turf short of gully and then slashes it over gully for a single. A taller gully would have fancied his chances. The legside bouncer was tucked off the ribs for two and while seven is a good return off the over, Brook looks vulnerable. I’m not convinced that he is weak against the short ball. It’s that he has too many attacking counter-measures and tries to riffle through them all. 

Root, by angling his bat in a defensive, manages to deflect it wide of point an earn a single. Brook drives to mid-on and mid-off, blocks, plays and misses to Seales then tucks a single off his hip. 

Duckett slashes a drive over gully for four off Seales and takes four leg-byes off one that hoops in then beats Da Silva. Apologies for the loss of the original OVER 27 entry. It was lost in the ether. 

After that very long DRS delay, Brook comes in. The lights are on, it’s still gloomy and the ball is wobbling around. Game on for West Indies. 

Brook has two slips and a gully, a fly slip and two men out on the hook. They’re going to bounce him, or spoof him into thinking they are. The first bouncer sails down leg but the next sits up and Brook pulls it for  twoin front of square. 

Duckett lbw b Alzarri Joseph76  Hit on the big toe by a fast, inswinging yorker.  Great delivery and a painful blow for the expectant father.  FOW 140/3

More than two minutes now. 

Duckett lbw b Alzarri  Pinned by the yorker from round the wicket. Was it heading down? Root thinks it might have been. Looked pretty plumb to me.  

This ball is not only swinging but bouncing more. Root, who had hared to the middle, getting his beans pumping and feet moving, opens his eyes wide when one jumps on him when he was trying to punch it. After playing and missing, he gets off the mark with a midwicket flick. 

Duckett toes a pull off the short ball to mid-on for two then ambles a leg bye when pinned by the yorker from round the wicket that was shaping down. 

Australia will be up in arms about this replacement ball, too, I suspect …

The very first ball after the long break for the ball change does for Pope, who leaves shaking his head. A very important partnership, but England another couple of them with the lead only 86. Cloud is low, covers are on and it’s a bit dank. A great time for the Windies’ quicks to be bowling.  

Pope c Sinclair b Alzarri Joseph 51  The changed ball swings and draws blood at the first attempt. Pope pushes forward to the outswinger and chips it to gully. The previous ball hadn’t strayed off the true path once!  Sinclair, post snaffle, runs off like a goalscorer or Shamar J and then plays keep-uppie with his thigh and palms. FOW 127/2

Duckett late cuts between slip and gully for four. They are trying to turn his strength into a flaw and will be encouraged that he is taking on that shot. Holder tells Seales to bring him forward more but he goes over the wicket and bowls too straight. Duckett cuffs a single off middle, closing the face.

Another ball goes out of shape. On comes the box of replacements. 

If no more rain, play will continue to 6.41pm. 

Fifty for Pope to go with his first-dig century. Alzarri J angles it into the right-hander who lets it come on to the bat and pats it round the corner for a single. To Duckett he has a 6-3 field (by contrast with Seales’ 7-2) and tests his patience with a fifth/sixth stump line. Indeed, it draws the false shot twice, wafting outside off, genuine play and misses but then he gets off strike with a straight drive for a single. 

Shades of Stephen Fleming’s tactics to Damien Martyn in 2001/02. Martyn’s best shot was the square drive; New Zealand bowled to it deliberately, but packed the gully region and enjoyed considerable success.

Seales has switched to the Broad End. He starts back of a length to Pope who cuffs a pull for a single. The West Indies leadership have come up with a containment strategy for Duckett with an offside ring, one slip and Seales bowling a sixth stump line. So far so good for the plan which rattles up five dot balls to England’s busy left-hander. 

Play will resume imminently. The West Indies team are in a huddle before they cross the rope. 

I’m afraid we’ve waited the whole tea break to bring the covers on, but just as the umpires got back to the middle they’ve decided to bring the hover out. So we will have a delay. It’s really not raining hard; possibly a frustrating period incoming.

It should not be long but the umbrellas are up and there are drops of rain on the lens of the panoramic camera on the top of the highest stand. 

So there will be a short delay. The rain isn’t very heavy and the forecast is for a 40 per cent chance of rain until 7pm when it drops to 20 per cent. 

England regained control of the second Test in the afternoon with Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope playing responsible, mature innings to turn a 41-run deficit into a lead of 75.

West Indies could not back up their stirring fightback with the bat with the ball, spraying it around, bowling too many half-volleys and giving away easy runs after making a lucky breakthrough early on when Zak Crawley was run out backing up for three.

Duckett hit the fastest fifty by an England opener in the first innings but his second half century was more sedate, although still pretty quick off 55 balls, brought up with a rush of three swept fours in three balls. Ollie Pope’s unbeaten 48 was more composed than his first innings century. The confidence from that innings reduced the freneticism which has become a hallmark of how he starts and he is well placed to shape the rest of the Test. 

West Indies are lacking a spark. A bowling attack that has a strong reputation has just not delivered and while it felt a sedate afternoon, England still scored at 5.2 an over without really having to work too hard.

I’ve just been having a cup of tea at the Radcliffe Road End with a view over Nottingham Forest’s City Ground and return bearing bad news: it’s raining. Very lightly, but it has been forecast. No covers on at the moment, but we could be in for some delays.

England’s session after losing the wicket of Crawley in the second over. Duckett, the busybody’s busybody, has hustled his way to another fifty and Pope has been parp! parping! along like Mr Toad alongside his partner. West Indies, having seemingly blown the doors off this morning, have stuck them back on their hinges and closed them on themselves with some erratic lines and illogical field placings.  

Duckett and Pope keep hustling on their way to tea, milking five off Sinclair. Pope dabs for two and takes singles, using the angle, into the onside off his toes. 

Time for tea. England lead by 75. 

Plenty of criticism from Messrs Butcher and Atherton for Brathwaote’s ‘bob each-way’ field placings. He keeps trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted, making changes after bad balls rather that sticking to his guns. Shamar Joseph has no protection on the offside so is forced to bowl straight but it also means that slips are taken out of the game. 

Pope pulls for a single and a Shamar Joseph no-ball is added to the score. 

Nelson!

Here’s the captain’s reaction to the runout:

Pope and Duckett milk Sinclair for two singles each, one apiece to point, one apiece off the pads behind square. 

Shamar Joseph comes back and England’s second wicket pair fillet him for 10 runs, four singles a two and a four. Pope goes up en pointe to dab two down to third man, brings up the hundred with a square cut for a single and Duckett swipes four with a thick edge as he essayed a huge drive. It flew in the air but safely.  

Mr 360, the man who has more sweeps than Rishi Sunak claims we have bins, pulverises a hard, orthodox sweep in front of square for four, then top edges the next to fine leg for four more and makes it a hat-trick when the fielder moves from 45 by cuffing a third sweep to the long leg boundary. That’s fifty for Duckett ‘back-to-back on his home ground’, says Mark Butcher. Poor Northants. What short memories. Duckett and Swann were Cobblers born and bred and yet they are ‘Nottinghamshire legends’. Ditto poor Leicestershire and Stuart Broad. 

A fifth boundary for Duckett, closing the face to work an overpitched Holder delivery through midwicket for four. It’s all gone very quiet. Time for some spin and Duckett will face the offie Sinclair after farming the strike with a tip and run to cover. 

Seales flicks Pope’s straight drive back towards the non-striker’s but lightning doesn’t strike twice. The ball whistled past the poles and Duckett had not left his hutch. Pope opens the face to slice a single out to point. Duckett does the same, but left-handed so the ball ends up 180 degrees away from Pope’s shot. 

Three singles off Holder’s third over, Duckett’s pair square of the wicket, exploiting width and then the angle in to him to whip it. Pope shoulders arms and works a single off his shins with a speedway rider’s flick of the wrist. 

Duckett eases on to the front foot to flay a cover drive for four then replicates the stroke next ball but this time finds the fielder and, having hit it so hard, has no time to take even a single. These two average 85.5 in 12 partnerships together and they are heading that way again after already posting 64. 

Holder is bowling full, giving it every chance. Duckett drills a straight drive for a single and then, after Pope works another off his toes, the left-hander glides four down through third man. When Holder goes short Duckett chops a single down to the point sweeper.

Jaydon Seales, after a wild two-over opening skill, is given a chance to redeem himself.  

Shamar backs Holder up with a tight over, leaking only a single to Duckett for an on-drive. Can they turn the screw? 

That inside edge which Ollie Pope got to the last ball before drinks. I reckon his new straighter backlift saved him there, making the difference between survival and lbw. 

Jason Holder, rare among fast bowlers in preferring his shirt untucked, replaces Alzarri. His shirt rides up his back during his action. Alas poor Baden-Powell. He’ll never be a scout. 

Duckett squeezes a single down to the point sweeper, leaning across to drive. Pope gets his hands high to lift the bat above one that rears up outside off and then drives confidently and crisply but straight at short cover. 

Better from Shamar in the last over before drinks. Duckett turns one into two via a misfield at fine leg off a tickle then opens the face to glide another single to third man. Pope is pinned by the full inswinger but had managed to feather an edge on to the ball as he defended just outside the eventual line. 

Drinks. 

Father to be Duckett smears an off-drive for four off Alzarri. His elbow was in perfect position, so high that he didn’t even have to bring the bat through the perpendicular to impart even more force on the stroke. He jabs the next one down to third man for a single and then Pope clatters a square drive for four.

What a disappointment from the West Indies. The bowlers are their match-winners and their maligned batsmen have given them a rare platform. But they are fluffing their lines. There have been half a dozen half-volleys. Pies. 

Terrific diving stop with a headlong dive by Mikyle having run from fine leg to deep backward square. It means Pope gleans only one for his leg glance off Shamar instead of the four it always looked like being. That’s the kind of fielding that inspires the bowling side, says Stuart Broad. 

Louis is kept in the game by Duckett’s drive to the point sweeper and Pope’s inside edge into his pad for a single to fine leg. 

That is a genuinely stunning diving stop from Mikyle Louis to keep Ollie Pope to one when he creamed it to deep square. It was Louis who pulled off that brilliant run out of Shoaib Bashir at Lord’s, too.

Pope uses the angle to work Alzarri Joseph’s length ball delivered from wide on the crease through square leg for a single and Duckett short-arm pulls a bouncer for another. 

His Holiness levels the scores with a square drive for a single and Nitin Menon calls it a no-ball, too, so England take the lead. 

Shamar Joseph replaces Seales after only two overs. Pope nurdles his short first one round the corner for a single. Shamar, who nicked Duckett off from round the wicket in the first innings, immediately adopts that line. Duckett drives the first but cannot pierce mid-off and then squirts a back-foot punch off a thick edge under the slips for three. 

Alzarri strays on to Pope’s pads and the vice-captain flicks him insouciantly for four. A shovelly clip round the corner earns him a single and Duckett ends the over with a firm defensive. 

I joked before about Duckett leaving a ball from Joseph. He barely leaves any alone, and the West Indies clearly know that as they are trying to tempt him outside off stump, possibly playing on his ego. They’ve got a deep point out, and are dangling it outside off stump. 

Certainly a choice example of English willow from Gray Nicolls that Pope has in his hands. He starts the over with a prial of fours. The first is s glorious cover drive, the next two exploit Seales’ waywardness, chopping the wide one through third man and then, when he overcorrects, tickling the third off his toes. Brathwaite signals to Shamar Joseph to get loose.

Seales ends with a good nut, though. The ball angles in, jags away and takes a leading edge. It arcs towards cover but lands short and they run a single. 

If that was the bat with which Pope scored his first-innings hundred, it’s heading for the bin now as he drives at Alzarri and a chunk off the toe flew towards silly mid-off.

The new bat does its job, earning Pope four behind point, the outside edge of the toe this time remaining intact. 

Duckett, whose partner is expecting a child any second now, gets off the mark by clipping Seales’s inswinger that started too straight for four. His clumping drive off another inswinger, though, saws off his partner. 

Crawley run out 3  Run out backing up at the non-stiker’s when Seales gets a fingertip on a Duckett drive to knock it into the stumps. Crawley couldn’t get his bat down in time. He was holding the bat in his left hand which was the proper thing to do but Duckett hit it with such power that there wasn’t much he could do.  FOW 8/1

Alzarri Joseph starts with a short ball veering on to leg. Crawley pulls, rolls the wrists too early and top-edges it into his grille. The square leg umpire suggests a concussion test but Crawley insists he’s OK and then gets off a pair with an off-drive for three. 

West Indies, like Australia last year, post a point sweeper for Duckett. He leaves the first outside off – who is this man and what has he don with Ben Duckett? – then trots a leg-bye off an inswinger. The clouds have made this interesting today.

Alzarri beats Crawley with a big outswinger and he leaves the last. Good shape. 

BEN DUCKETT HAS LEFT A BALL.

Good news for the Windies is that after his batting heroics, Shamar Joseph is out there warming up to bowl. West Indies have a real sniff here. 

West Indies made their first total of 450 since 2014, taking a 41 lead against England who showed both sides of their character this morning.

The good side was Chris Woakes back to his best and a very tidy performance with the ball from both ends as England made big inroads into West Indies tail without conceding many runs. A handy little lead was there for the taking when no 11 Shamar Joseph walked out with Woakes on a hat-trick.

But England then stood back, spread fields to give Josh Da Silva singles so they could get at the No 11 who was able to get himself in playing the odd ball per over. The result was a stand of 71 off 78.

It rarely works giving runs to a player like Da Silva, limited but gutsy and good enough to find whack a bad ball to the boundary. Shamar can bat too. He scored 36 on debut in Adelaide and was batting at No 11 mainly to protect his sore hamstrings. He hammered two glorious sixes on to the roof of the Larwood & Voce bar off Gus Atkinson, coming back down to earth after his debut, while Da Silva took four consecutive boundaries off Root as England turned to spin. England were complacent, a little like they were with the bat when they left at least 50 runs unscored.

Mark Wood was summoned for a second spell of the day, putting more work into his tired legs, and he did make the breakthrough dismissing Joseph but this was England sitting back, rather than looking for wickets, which has been the hallmark of the Stokes era. The lead is nominal but after what happened at Lord’s, a massive step forward for West Indies. We have not really seen the real Shamar Joseph with the ball. Will the adrenaline feed into his bowling?

Wood comes round the wicket to Joseph who backs away and heaves, chipping the ball off the inside edge for four down to fine leg. Backing away exposes his off-stump but Wood can’t take advantage … yet.

Da Silva tells him to get in line but he doesn’t and backs away for a hack. The ball follows him and whistles past leg stump. Da Silva implores him to play properly but when he does, he pops one up. 

The partnership ends at 71 and WI lead by 41. 

England were terrific for 90 minutes and West Indies had fun for 45. 

Joseph c Atkinson b Wood 33  Finally a wicket for Wood as Shamar pops one off the leading edge as he tried to glance off his pads. The ball loops to mid-on. FOW 457 all out

Thanks Rob. Stokes keeps mid-on and mid-off up to tempt Da Silva into a drive and he RSVPs the invitation to loft Root for four to long-on and then slog sweeps twice for two more fours, the last of them a round-arm slinger full toss from Root from round the wicket.

Root alters his line and Da Silva launches him from off-stump into the stands at cow corner. Eighteen off the over and a partnership that now stands at 67. Tino Best 2012 all over again for the 10th wicket!

Back to Wood. 

Shamar tickles Bashir for four to take West Indies’ lead to a small but useful 19. That’s all from me - the great Rob Bagchi is ready to take over.

Spin at both ends, with Joe Root getting his first bowl of the series. It’s another quiet over, with Shamar showing exaggerated restraint. For now.

Bashir does come on for what should be the penultimate over before lunch - but play will continue for an extra half hour with West Indies nine down. Da Silva takes all six deliveries and keeps the strike for the next over. 

As for the West Indies wicketkeeper, Joshua da Silva is tough, reminiscent of an Australian keeper such as Ian Healy. He looks the part of a batsman who will nurture the tail. He didn’t expose Shamar Joseph to Mark Wood for a single ball, allowing his number eleven to make hay against Gus Atkinson. 

Those two pulled sixes from Shamar Joseph off Gus Atkinson show serious batting talent; don’t suspect we’ll see him at No 11 again in Test cricket.

Shamar pulls Atkinson majestically for six to bring the scores level! “Lara eat your heart out,” says Mark Butcher on Sky. “What a shot!”

He surpasses it two balls later, swivel-pulling a stunning six that demolishes a few tiles on the roof of the stand. The crowd had to duck for cover as the tiles fell towards them but it looks like nobody was hurt.

A top-edged pull for four makes it 16 from the over. This is wonderful stuff.

Groundhog over from Wood to Da Silva: five balls of nothing – but this time Da Silva can’t hit a six, or even a single, off the last ball. It might be time to bring on Shoaib Bashir, especially with Shamar Joseph on strike.

This is West Indies’ first score of 400 overseas against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe since Headingley 2017 – a game they won. Terrific effort after what happened at Lord’s. It has been batting of character and courage, seeing off Wood and hauling themselves level. 

Atkinson replaces Woakes, who has bowled all morning, and is immediately hooked for four by Shamar. That’s a cracking shot from a player whose batting evokes Darren Gough at the start of his Test career: proud, vigorous, fearless. And oozing charisma.

West Indies trail by six runs.

Joshua Da Silva is a very gutsy cricketer. His century in Grenada two years ago helped seal West Indies’ series victory, and the end of the Joe Root regime. At the Gabba in January, his 79 was the top score in the incredible West Indies win. Now he’s effectively reduced this to a one-innings match.

Da Silva seems to have decided that Shamar won’t be facing even one ball from Wood. He defends the first four balls, then slashes an uppercut for six to bring up the 400. This is shaping up to be a cracking game, a one-innings shootout in ever-changing conditions.

Shamar Joseph isn’t a complete donkey with the bat – he made 36 on debut against Australia – so West Indies might be better off swinging for the hills. The sooner they get England in, the better.

Shamar shows that he can play with a handsome drive over mid-off for four. Not many No11s get off the mark with a shot like that.

The slightly odd stalemate continues Ben Stokes hates letting a match drift but on this occasion I don’t think he’ll mind: every dot ball is one that England’s openers won’t have to face before lunch.

Da Silva declines a single off the penultimate ball – and then chips a magnificent six over extra-cover to reach his half-century! Well that escalated quickly. Helluva shot that: he backed away, opened the face and just timed the ball into the crowd. He held the pose; quite right too.

Da Silva takes a single off Woakes’ fourth ball. As Ian Ward says on Sky, this stalemate might not be the best tactic for West Indies – with the lights on, their bowlers could give England a very tricky mini-session before lunch.

Shamar misses a lusty hack and is beaten, then drives confidently to mid-off. So on we go.

The floodlights are on, which should exacerbate any movement. Da Silva turns down singles early in Wood’s over, then edges a big drive that bounces fractionally short of Root at third man. They could have taken a single then, off the penultimate ball, but Shamar stayed put. No matter: Da Silva gets his single off the last ball to keep the strike.

“‘Scatter’, you imagine Ben Stokes told his fielders,” writes Tim Wigmore at Trent Bridge. “Eight men went to the boundary, leaving only Zak Crawley, at slip, anywhere near the bat. Joshua da Silva, who has a Test average of 26, must be feeling flattered.”

Ah, Woakesy. Welcome back. He’s been terrific this morning but I’m not sure he will ever have a better shot at a Test hat-trick than that. 

Shamar Joseph walks down the pitch to the hat-trick ball, turns it into a yorker and just about digs it out. No hat-trick for Woakes but he’ll be thrilled with this return to form: 26-1-79-4. It’s 2023 all over again.

Seales b Woakes 0 Beautiful. Jayden Seales has gone first ball, bowled by a nipbacker that went through a big gate to hit the top of off. He’s on a five-for - and a hat-trick. FOW: 386/9

A Joseph c Smith b Woakes 10 Another one from Chris Woakes, who has bowled really well this morning. Alzarri tries to hit Woakes into the Lace Market, swings too hard and toe-ends the ball through to Smith. FOW: 386/8

Jamie Smith, as a Test wicketkeeper, is shaping up as one of the less demonstrative kind - a successor, in demeanour, to Chris Read and Jos Buttler and Ben Foakes, not a yapping and barking tub-thumper like Matt Prior and Jonny Bairstow. And until the last ball before drinks shot along the ground for four byes, Smith had gone about his business very proficiently, to the extent that few are noticing his keeping any more.

Mind you, he was spared the biggest test on day two, which was hot: if Shoaib Bashir had been able to contain from the Radcliffe Road end most of the day, instead of being hit out of the attack, the last hour, standing up to spin, would have been Smith’s most demanding gig yet. 

Wood revs up during his first over, slightly stiff at the start but clocking 92mph by the end. Joseph it hit on the glove or possibly the arm, then misses a full, swinging delivery that goes through Jamie Smith for four byes. That’s his first notable mistake with the gloves.

Stop what you’re doing, sit up straight: the Ashington Typhoon is about to bowl.

Last night Da Silva breezed to 32 from 35 balls, with seven fours. This morning: eight runs, 32 balls, no fours. At the moment it’s Alzarri playing the big shots, though he mistimes a couple in that Woakes over.

Yet another play and miss. Alzarri tries to drive Atkinson, misses and is relieved to see the ball whoosh past the off stump. England couldn’t have done much more this morning.

Woakes goes past the edge once again, this time of Alzarri’s bat. The downside of this morning’s play for England is that batting won’t be easy when their turn comes, especially when add the unique third-innings pressure.

Dropped him! Alzarri gets a big leading edge off Atkinson that goes high in the air. Stokes charges in from cover, crouches and puts down an awkward low chance. Tricky for most people, but Stokes would probably take that eight or nine times out of ten.

A fine over from Atkinson, who has bowled with cold-eyed purpose this morning, ends with a lovely bouncer that gives Alzarri a whiff of leather.

After a difficult start to the series, Woakes is starting to look like himself. He beats Da Silva with three in a row, the last an absolute peach, and then does it again two balls later. Da Silva has picked up where Holder left off last night, riding his luck like Willie Schumacher.

Harry Brook worked hard on fitness over the winter, losing weight and getting stronger, mainly to improve his boundary fielding in T20 cricket but the happy byproduct has been his catching close in. That was another good grab at gully and he has become, alongside Crawley, England’s most reliable catcher.

Alzarri gave Atkinson a bit of pongo at Lord’s. No sign of that yet, just a shovel off the pads for a single. 

Da Silva is beaten by consecutive jaffas from Atkinson, both snapping off the seam.

Alzarri Joseph clips his first ball elegantly through midwicket for four. Cor, if only all No9s could play shots like that.

Woakes almost gets him next ball with a straight delivery that is about to thump the pad when Joseph gets an inside-edge.

That was the last ball of the over. England have been spot on this morning.

There are a lot of tickets remaining for tomorrow, and it looks very much like we will get a thrilling day’s play at one of the world’s great Test grounds. Tickets are reasonably priced, too. Come along!

Here’s the link...

Sinclair c Brook b Atkinson 4 The ball is doing a bit – nothing dramatic, but enough to make this a tricky spell for West Indies. And as I type they lose the second wicket of the morning. Sinclair throws his hands at a tempting full delivery and snicks it towards gully, where Brook takes a very sharp catch. FOW: 362/7

Sinclair is a very decent No8, with a first-class average of almost 40, and he has started his innings with some very solid defensive strokes. But he offers a run-out chance when is very well stopped by the diving Pope in the covers. Pope throws while on his knees and the ball just misses the stumps. Sinclair was well short.

England have started really well: five overs, nine runs, one wicket.

Sinclair edges Atkinson along the ground for a single, with the diving Brook saving three runs. England have started with impressive intensity.

In that Jason Holder wicket, Shoaib Bashir played a part. Earlier in the same over that he was out, Holder creamed an on-drive which Bashir at mid-on had to dive to his left to save. You would expect a Test fielder to stop a four but Bashir stopped it cleanly enough to prevent a single. Ben Stokes, at mid-off, singled Bashir out for a clap.,, and Holder was therefore still on strike when Woakes found his outside edge.

Holder c Smith b Woakes 27 The early wicket that England wanted. Holder pushes at a fine delivery - perfect line and length, moving away just a touch - and thin-edges through to Jamie Smith. FOW: 355/6

Gus Atkinson’s first ball kicks to take a leading edge as Da Silva tries to turn to leg. Duckett rushes in from backward point but the ball drops short.

Atkinson’s first over is a good maiden. Are there bad maidens? 

Woakes has a muted shout for LBW when a nice nipbacker hits Holder on the thigh. Too high. Holder drives the next ball handsomely through mid-off for four to bring up a very handy fifty partnership. His bat has a middle.

Chris Woakes opens the bowling. Let’s see if Jason Holder’s bat has a middle today; yesterday he missed or mistimed almost everything.

It’s almost time for action, and it looks like a much better bowling day – the new ball is only one over old and England will hope to get it swinging pretty early.

[On his fellow Dominican Kavem Hodge] We do everything together. It felt like I got a hundred because he got a hundred. I asked him if I could have the extra 20 runs!

I needed that innings to give me some belief I can do it at this level. I didn’t get to three figures, I’d have loved that, but it was good to get some runs. It will give me confidence going forward.

I’m normally the one who takes on fast bowling and he’s normally the one who keeps me calm, but yesterday we did the opposite.

[On being hit on the helmet by Wood] I’m good. I’m doing better than I thought!

This could be a very good game. The pace that England bat means we might have more time to reach a target.

Mark Wood was the pick of England’s bowlers, delivering a four-over opening spell that saw him touch 97mph and not dip below 90. He returned later in the day, but proved utterly luckless, hitting Alick Athanaze on the head and having Hodge badly dropped on 16 at slip by Joe Root.

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Perversely, Chris Woakes’s promotion could even have nullified him: Dukes balls tend to swing more after around 12 overs than when they are brand new, as Ben Stokes said this week. As first change, Woakes enjoyed this advantage; opening the bowling, he was lumbered with a ball that would scarcely deviate off the straight.

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Hello and welcome to day three at Trent Bridge. England are in a game here: West Indies will resume on 351 for 5, trailing by just 65, and the forecast is in their favour. It’s overcast at Trent Bridge so the ball should swing more than it did on the first two days. If West Indies can get any kind of lead, they have a great chance to put England’s freewheelers under pressure.

The stars of yesterday’s play were Kavem Hodge, the little Dominican who punched a terrific maiden century, and Mark Wood. He bowled at the speed of light, went past the outside edge on 20 occasions and somehow ended up with figures of 14.1-3-51-0.

The .1 is because he left the field through injury just before the close. It looked like cramp, nothing more serious, and the assistant coach Paul Collingwood said he should be fine to bowl today. “Surprisingly, he said he’s never had cramp before,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s just a bit of fatigue. It’s been a hot day, he’s put all his effort into every ball. But he had a smile on his face at the end.”

So did Hodge, an effervescent character who said he “blacked out” on 97, such was his excitement at the prospect of a Test hundred. He also relished the battle with Wood. “It was really brutal,” he said. “It’s not every day you rock up and face someone bowling 93mph every single ball. 

“There was one point I was joking with him. I said, ‘Hey, I have a wife and kids at home!’ He started to laugh and I think it made the century much more satisfying. Test cricket is brutal, it is challenging, it is mentally draining. To experience that, facing guys like Mark Wood, it was tough but it was satisfying.”

It’ll be even more satisfying if it leads to a West Indies win.