Twitter Reactions: Dom Sibley and Ben Stokes bore West Indies with their proper Test match batting

England finished at 207/3 at the end of day 1 of the second Test match versus West Indies. The England batting line up which faced a lot of criticism post the first Test match finally showed its prowess. While a couple of hiccups took place in between, England finished the day comprehensively ahead of the WI.

Let’s look back and see what right or wrong did the teams do on the first day. While rain played spoilsport once again and the match began 1.5 hours late we still got 82 overs in the day. West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl. England had as many as 4 changes after Jofra Archer had to be pulled out, Wood and Anderson were rested, and Root was back. Caribbeans went in with an unchanged match-winning lineup.

The cloudy conditions led to West Indies electing to bowl however it was believed that after the return of Captain Joe Root this batting lineup would no longer simply falter. While England showed great resilience in the first 13 overs, captain Jason Holder gave the ball to Roston Chase just before lunch. This is where things took a turn.

On just his second ball, Chase dismissed Rory Burns for 15, and lunch was announced. This was not it, post-lunch Chase dismissed Zak Crawley on the very first ball for a golden duck. Root started off really well with a strike rate around 50 and was looking good with his defense. After fighting rather hard Root’s dismissal came as a surprise to many.

It was just a lazy cover drive that should’ve been avoided by all means. Alzarri Joseph bowled two almost identical away swingers and Root fell for the trap on the second ball and edged one to slips where Holder took a comfortable catch. Root fell for 23 and England were 81/3.

Ben Stokes and Dom Sibley build a crucial partnership

Many believed that England would again falter and it would be a repeat of the first Test match. But here’s where things changed. Sibley and Stokes proved everyone wrong with a 126-run partnership at stumps. Both batsmen look well set for big ones and this could be worrying signs for the Windies.

Dom Sibley is currently batting on 86* while Ben Stokes has scored 59* runs. Sibley can consider himself lucky as a drop catch by Holder gave him another life when he was on 68. He also survived a close LBW call when he was on 82. Ben Stokes has given no opportunity and has continued with his amazing form.

An amazing second day of Test cricket awaits everyone and it shall be really interesting to see who finishes ahead on Day 2 as this match is far from over.

Here’s how Twitter reacted on Day 1