It was never going to be the same and it was not. No crowd, no saliva, no presenter at the toss. The changes which have been made in the last couple of months have been the talk of the town but none of that was a hurdle to match proceedings. In fact, it was cricket’s old foe, Rain which made its appearance on regular intervals to play a bit of killjoy.
England’s 81st captain, Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first in overcast conditions, leaving out the team’s second highest wicket-taker Stuart Broad. West Indies skipper Jason Holder thought it was not a bad toss to lose as the conditions were tailor made for bowling.
Kemar Roach bowled the first ball to Rory Burns after a 117-day hiatus, which the southpaw played defensively to the off-side. West Indies found success in the second over when Shannon Gabriel got the ball to nip back at Dom Sibley who misjudged his leave.
They say ‘Hit the top of off-stump’ and Gabriel was right on the money whereas Sibley didn’t know where his off-stump was. The lanky pacer impressed with his pace despite the recent ankle injury but his line could have been better.
There was a close LBW appeal against Rory Burns when Roach got the ball back into the left-hander from round the wicket and Jason Holder decided to go upstairs for the DRS. However, it returned as umpire’s call and thus the visitors retained their review.
Joe Denly looked a bit tentative at the start and the outside edge of his bat went through the vacant fourth slip while he was facing Kemar Roach. However, constant start and stop didn’t allow players any impetus.
West Indies bowlers could have bowled a tad fuller to trouble the England batsman but they were a bit wayward with their line and length. The fast bowlers only pitched 21% of deliveries in the good length area.
Denly and Burns looked more confident but early tea was taken as rain once again made its appearance at the Ageas Bowl. No more play was possible and the opening day was called off with England 35-1.
Light showers are expected on the second day whereas rain is not expected to play spoilsport in the final three days of the match.
Brief Scores: England 35-1, Rory Burns: 20*, Joe Denly – 14*, Shannon Gabriel – 1/19.
