Shannon Gabriel pegs back Joe Denly's off-stump with a corker of delivery

International cricket finally resumed after 117 days on Wednesday with England and West Indies locking horns in the first of the three-match Test series. After opting to bat first, the hosts lost Dom Sibley early as only 17.4 overs of play was possible due to rain and bad light. However, the weather was better on Day 2 as the play started on time with Rory Burns and Joe Denly resuming.

The West Indies would’ve hoped to start the day on a good note and it happened for them thanks to Shannon Gabriel. His pace troubled the England batsmen on the first day as well and Gabriel was superb with his line and lengths again. He kept bowling outside the off-stump delivery and at times took it away from Joe Denly as well.

And then in the 24th over of the innings, the batsman slammed a delivery on his pads for four. Shannon Gabriel then followed it up with a brilliant nip-backer taking an advantage of Denly’s flawed technique. West Indies had figured out that his front foot goes nowhere and when the ball comes into him and Gabriel did the same. Denly, as expected, didn’t move his front foot much only to see the ball thud into his off-stump.

He scored only 18 runs off 58 deliveries with four boundaries to his name and looked decent during the 48-run partnership with Rory Burns. But his flawed forward defensive technique led to his downfall yet again like it was in South Africa on occasions.

Here’s the video:

Tough conditions to bat

Meanwhile, the conditions aren’t easy at all to bat and the credit has to be given to the West Indies bowlers for keeping it extremely tight. The conditions are overcast and runs are coming at premium for the hosts. The trio of Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder have done well thus far to keep the opposition batsmen at bay and they have been rewarded duly as well.

The visitors will now be hoping for Alzarri Joseph to come into his own who wasn’t at his best in his 3.4 overs of spell on the opening day. England, on the other hand, will hope to wear out the pace attack and then collect runs later in the day.