Ollie Pope century anchors dominant England innings against West Indies
Pope rode his luck as his knock of 121 carried Ben Stokes’ men to 416 all out.
Ollie Pope struck the first century of England’s Test summer, punishing a careless West Indies side on the first day at Trent Bridge.
England won last week’s series opener at Lord’s by an innings with a top score of 76 but went a step further in Nottingham, Pope riding his luck as his knock of 121 carried them to 416 all out.
He saw two regulation chances dropped either side of lunch, Alick Athanaze grassing him at gully on 46 and Jason Holder fluffing his lines at slip with Pope on 54.
That was all the encouragement he needed to deliver the sixth hundred of his career, anchoring an innings that also included a blistering 71 from Ben Duckett and 69 from skipper Ben Stokes.
The West Indies badly needed a strong outing to rouse their spirits after a demoralising first Test but their handling errors prevented them turning the screw. As well as Pope’s twin reprieve, there were two more drops and a missed stumping as they failed to back their bowlers.
England showed a flippant streak as a host of batters fell to sloppy shots but a scoring rate of 4.70 and a tally of 50 fours and four sixes suggested they were controlling the tempo.
The West Indies attack battled hard after a couple of fitness setbacks, with first-choice spinner Gudakesh Motie a late withdrawal through illness and Shamar Joseph restricted to 11.3 overs by a bout of cramp.
Visiting captain Kraigg Brathwaite sprung a surprise at the toss when he sent England in to bat, a gamble that quickly came good when Alzarri Joseph snagged Zak Crawley’s outside edge with the third ball of the match.
England, though, were entirely unfazed by the early loss. Duckett, whose participation in the match had been in doubt due to the imminent arrival of his first child, batted like a man in a hurry to move things long, setting a rollicking pace in the morning session.
Driving and cutting with utter conviction, the left-hander propelled his side to 50 quicker than any other in Test history, in just 26 balls, and reached his own half-century in 32. Only Sir Ian Botham and Jonny Bairstow have ever done it faster for England.
Treating the situation like a T20 powerplay on his home ground, Duckett threw his hands at anything wide or overpitched as he stacked up 14 boundaries.
The arrival of Holder briefly settled the scoring rate, and almost teased a return catch from Pope on 16, but Duckett was soon back on top. His hopes of converting his rapid half-century into three figures before lunch were ended by Shamar Joseph, who lined him up from round the wicket and had him well caught at second slip.
Had Athanaze held on to Pope in the last over before lunch, it might have changed things, but the chance tumbled to the turf and allowed England to rest easy on 134 for two.
A messy exit from Joe Root, hacking Seales to mid-on, lifted the West Indies but more mistakes were coming, Holder botching a regulation chance in the cordon to give Pope another stroke of luck and Athanaze parrying Harry Brook at gully.
The Yorkshireman was still impatient, scooping Kevin Sinclair to short-leg for 36 to tee up an acrobatic somersault celebration from the spinner. Pope made sure not to let his chance slip, maturing as the innings went on and picking off a steady supply of loose offerings.
He reached his ton in style, sweeping Sinclair for four then stepping back to pull Seales through midwicket. Pope, who had Arsenal and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the stands as his guest, looked in control by the time Alzarri Joseph finally took an edge that stuck but England had plenty in the tank.
Stokes pulled powerfully as he ended a run of low scores with a punchy half-century, while Jamie Smith smashed two sixes in a cameo of 36. Both men were caught trying to hammer poor deliveries from the slow bowlers, while Gus Atkinson was nicely caught at slip.
Mark Wood survived two near misses, Josh Da Silva missing a stumping and Mikyle Louis putting one down at point, but Holder clung on to Chris Woakes (37) and Shoaib Bashir to wrap up the innings by stumps.
