First Test: West Indies v England, Bridgetown, 23-27 Jan.

[mikesiva]

Hetmyer gets his half century!

Dowrich and Holder didn't last long.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Four in a row for Anderson. The day evening up a bit at the end.

24 overs is plenty in a day for the Burnley Sledger.

[backfootpunch]

Shannon Gabriel could be a handful on this wicket

[captaincolly]

Collapse of 4-24 at the end of the day. 264/8.

[Dr Cricket]

Shai Hope must hate England. He only seems to know how to bat against us. I think his only hundreds came in that one game a while back... since, his best score in quite a lot of games is 67. Average 20 since that series.... and low and behold, he turns up and looks solid today.

Good to see West Indies competitive. Quite a lot of opinions floating round that they would be annihilated, it would be good to get a close series.

just add to the conclusion that WI only turn up when england are playing.
on record Root and few other english players have spoken about this as well.

Brathwaite is another player that got a good record against england.

Really baffling why WI can't play good all the time though.

Suppose this is the disadvantage of being the big dog in cricket teams and players look forward and more motivated to do well against you.

England and india is probably the two biggest teams you can face in cricket really.

[alfie]

Only watched first session and finish (wretched time zone for us here ) but looks like an interesting match in prospect. Late fight back arguably gives England an edge ; but they still have to bat...and lately the length has had to compensate for a lack of top order reliability quite often.

Curran and Moeen were disappointing. I'd have picked Broad myself ; but I can understand the choice of Curran , who to be fair is still wearing his L plates and shouldn't be too harshly condemned for one poor day. He was too short too often which is fatal at his pace...but he has time to learn. May yet make up for it with bat in hand...

The two spinner choice is yet to have been proved good or bad. Wouldn't expect them to be wreckers on day one ; but Moeen in particular was more expensive than Root would have wanted. Second innings will be their test. And comparisons with how the all-pace West Indian attack fares.

Stokes started poorly I thought but clearly bounced back as the day went on. Lots of energy at the end of the day - got poor Roach with a snorter ! Anderson does what Anderson does ...as Onions says : will be impossible to replace. That late spell shows how fit he remains at 36. Just hope the batters give him a decent rest between innings...

[bigfluffylemon]

Shoulda picked Broad.

England need a good first innings lead if they're going to bat last on this pudding.

[sussexpob]

The interesting dynamic is going to be the pitch. I am not convinced that its as tame as people are making out, I think the ball has consistently shown signs of bouncing a little more than expected, the odd one has died a little (Hopes wicket for instance), and generally this has caused issues when the ball has been put on the right length. England just wasted a large portion of the day initially bowling way too short, then bowling way too full, but once the radar kicked in there has been seam on offer for Stokes, Anderson has swung the ball, and both have extracted some uneven bounce. When England got it right, wickets have fallen.

Judging on the look of the wicket, it was beginning to get heavily marked almost immediately. You can see clear ball markings on it from far away..... I dont expect this surface to last 5 days. I think it will start to break up quickly.

England really need to bat West Indies out the game in the first innings. I wouldnt want to bat last on this deck.

[mikesiva]

Would Woakes have been a better pick on this pitch than Curran?

Joseph out for a 22 ball duck.

Hetmyer last man out for 81.

West indies 289 all out.

[sussexpob]

289 all out.

[captaincolly]

289 all out.

There must be around 50 minutes of so until lunch. I wonder how many wickets England will lose in that time?!

[Durhamfootman]

289 all out.

There must be around 50 minutes of so until lunch. I wonder how many wickets England will lose in that time?!

oh crikey... have they picked all of Durham players?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'm going for one wicket.

Should be instructive how Jennings does against pace given his runs in SL. Though this is supposed to be a slow pitch.

[captaincolly]

289 all out.

There must be around 50 minutes of so until lunch. I wonder how many wickets England will lose in that time?!

oh crikey... have they picked all of Durham players?

If they had I'd have gone for a lunch score of 23/5.

I'm going for one wicket.

Should be instructive how Jennings does against pace given his runs in SL. Though this is supposed to be a slow pitch.

Yes, looked as if might have quickened up a bit late on yesterday. If the two openers don't have a good series here then goodness knows who will open in the Ashes.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, looked as if might have quickened up a bit late on yesterday. If the two openers don't have a good series here then goodness knows who will open in the Ashes.

Roy and JB1. If the Test side continues to evolve into the ODI side.