Dom Sibley’s painstaking unbeaten 86 helped England recover from an early collapse to be 207-3 at stumps on the first day of the second Tes...
Dom Sibley’s painstaking unbeaten 86 helped England recover from an early collapse to be 207-3 at stumps on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Warwickshire opener Sibley batted out the day’s 82 overs during more than six hours at the crease on the way to posting his second successive fifty of the series.
England, in a match they have to win to level the three-match contest, were in trouble at 29-2 after off-spinner Roston Chase took two wickets in two balls either side of lunch.
But the twice dropped Sibley and Ben Stokes (59 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 126 after they lost the toss in overcast, bowler-friendly conditions.
“I think we’re in a good position, obviously we need to bat well tomorrow and capitalise on it,” England coach Chris Silverwood told Sky Sports.
“We’ve seen two very good partnerships there. Dominic concentrates very well, he’s willing to bat for long periods of time and that’s what we needed at the top so the middle order can come in when the bowlers are a bit more tired.”
England suffered a setback before play started when they were forced to leave out Jofra Archer after the fast bowler admitted to breaking...
