Twitter Reactions: Joe Root's unbeaten ton headlines England's day in 2nd Test vs West Indies

The second Test between West Indies and England got underway at the Kensington Oval in Barbados and it was all about the visitors on the opening day of the action. England skipper Joe Root led from the front for the umpteenth time while Dan Lawrence also batted superbly to help the team to gain early honours in the Test match.

After opting to bat first, England’s poor starts continued with Zak Crawley bagging a duck. Jayden Seales swung the new ball to strike only in the fourth over of the innings. But then some attritional Test cricket was played with both Joe Root and Alex Lees dropping anchor. The latter reminded many of Dom Sibley mustering only 30 off 138 balls. But he stitched a crucial 76-run stand with his captain before being pinned in front of the stumps by Veerasammy Permaul.

Contrasting second half for England

England scored only 80 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first half of the day (45 overs). But West Indies didn’t help themselves with some wayward bowling and poor fielding along with lack of awareness on the field. Runs came thick and fast, especially in the final session and the player of Root’s quality pounced on every opportunity to score runs.

Lawrence also responded well batting at his new position in the line-up in this series. The hosts were guilty of dropping both batters and they made them pay heavily. Moreover, the Caribbean side had created a couple of chances to send back Root – once on 23 when they didn’t review a caught-behind chance and then on 32 when Joshua Da Silva dropped his catch.

Even Lawrence was dropped by Alzarri Joseph on 72 but he was unfortunate to miss out on a well-deserved ton getting out on 91 just at the stroke of stumps. However, Root showed his class and calibre yet again making West Indies pay for letting him off. He has remained unbeaten on 119 as England ended the day on 244/3. The visiting side will be keen on posting a mammoth score while West Indies would need wickets early on the second day.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: