England were 369 for three in their first innings at lunch against West Indies on the second day of the second Test on Thursday at Kensington Oval.
At the interval, the English captain Joe Root was not out on 151 and left-hander Ben Stokes was not out on 89, after the visitors continued from their overnight total of 244 for three.
West Indies endured a fruitless before lunch on the unresponsive pitch, and Root and Stokes indulged themselves to put on 125 – unbroken – before the interval to fortify England’s ascendancy in the match.
After an initial period of attrition, the Windies bowlers came under attack from Stokes with the left-hander unleashing a volley of strokes and erasing the run of bad form that had followed him into the Test.
Lef-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul felt the weight of Stokes’ bat when the England batsman lofted him over long-on for six to reach his 50 in the final half-hour before lunch and pacer Alzarri Joseph conceded 20 in his third over of the day to the world-rated all-rounder past 5 000 career runs.
A little before the interval, Root reached his 150 and has struck 14 fours from 311 balls in eight hours at the crease.
Summarised scores:
ENGLAND 369 for three (Joe Root 151 not out, Dan Lawrence 91, Ben Stokes 89 not out, Alex Lees 30) vs WEST INDIES.
(AR)
