NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Ollie Pope’s century helped England punish a careless West Indies side Thursday on the first day of the second Test at Trent Bridge.
England won last week’s series opener at Lord’s by an innings without any batsman scoring more than 76, but Pope rode his luck as his knock of 121 carried the hosts to 416 all out.
He saw two regulation chances dropped either side of lunch, by Alick Athanaze with Pope on 46 and Jason Holder 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 after a demoralizing first test but their handling errors proved costly. As well as Pope’s twin reprieve, there were two more drops and a missed stumping as they failed to back their bowlers.
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 unfazed and Duckett set a rollicking pace in the morning session.
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 Ian Botham and Jonny Bairstow have ever done it faster for England.
His hopes of converting his rapid half-century into three figures before lunch were ended by Shamar Joseph, who 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 134-2.
Joe Root had a messy exit, hacking Jayden Seales to mid-on, and Harry Brook scooped Kevin Sinclair to short-leg for 36 to tee up an acrobatic somersault celebration from the spinner. Pope, however, matured as the innings went on and picked 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 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 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 but Holder clung on to Chris Woakes (37) and Shoaib Bashir to wrap up the innings by stumps.
