Duckett’s boundary assault leads him to 59-ball 71; Pope unbeaten on 47 at lunch.
Lunch England 134 for 2 (Duckett 71, Pope 47*, Root 13*) vs West Indies
Ben Duckett’s boundary assault and Ollie Pope‘s unbeaten 47 guided England to 134 for 2 at lunch on the opening day of the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge.
West Indies, who won the toss and surprisingly opted to bowl, made a dream start with a wicket off the third ball of the match when Alzarri Joseph lined Zak Crawley up with a back-of-a-length delivery on target which drew a chunky edge for Alick Athanaze to gather at third slip. But Duckett and Pope settled into a 105-run partnership off 112 balls as the former peppered the perimeter and the latter steadily built his innings.
Despite the imminent arrival of his first child, Duckett was supremely focused in the middle. He found the boundary four times in a row off Jayden Seales in the second over, two glorious extra cover drives bookending a cut in front of point and a clip through midwicket. He helped himself to two more in Seales’ next over and another, off Joseph this time, brought up England’s 50 in just 26 balls, the fastest for any team in Tests.