Dom Sibley completed a patiently compiled century and Ben Stokes reached three figures himself yesterday as the pair extended their unbeaten partnership to 220 runs and took the total past 300 as England pressed their advantage over the West Indies after lunch on day 2 of the second cricket Test at Old Trafford.
England were 264-3 at the end of a wicketless first session in which the hosts added 57 runs in 26 overs — a run rate that took Test cricket back to the old days.
Sibley beat Stokes in their painstaking crawls to the milestone, bringing up his second Test hundred with a straight drive for three runs about 10 minutes before lunch.
Photo: Reuters
The opener gave a big fist pump to celebrate his 312-ball century, England’s fifth-slowest since 1990, and was 117 not out at press time last night.
Stokes at lunch was unbeaten on 99 off 252 balls and was being just as measured in his approach with the ball moving around in Manchester, but pulled out a reverse sweep for four to register his 10th Test ton.
England were meandering along at a run rate of 2.44 at lunch, with the leave often being the shot of choice, especially for Sibley.
They were 336-3 from 124.4 overs at press time last night, a rate that might not place enough pressure on the visitors, who lead the three-match series 1-0.
The three wickets fell on day 1 on Thursday, with Alzarri Joseph drawing an edge behind from England captain Joe Root for 23.
Roston Chase took the other two in successive deliveries, opener Rory Burns LBW for 15 and Zak Crawley caught for a duck.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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