England vs West Indies cricket: Dom Sibley turns day one into a borefest

England opener Dom Sibley took the waiting game to the next level as he batted all day in Manchester while barely playing a shot.

Kemar Roach only conceded 37 runs from his 20 overs during an old-school day of Test cricket.

Dom Sibley’s painstaking unbeaten 86 helped England recover from an early collapse to be 3/207 at stumps on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford.

Warwickshire opener Sibley batted out the day’s 82 overs during more than six hours at the crease on the way to posting his second successive half century of the series, soaking up 253 balls in the process.

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England, in a match it has to win to level the three-match contest, was in trouble at 2/29 after off-spinner Roston Chase took two wickets in two balls either side of lunch.

But the twice dropped Sibley and Ben Stokes (59 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 126 after the hosts lost the toss in overcast, bowler-friendly conditions.

“I think we’re in a good position, obviously we need to bat well tomorrow and capitalise on it,” England coach Chris Silverwood told Sky Sports.

“We’ve seen two very good partnerships there. Dominic concentrates very well, he’s willing to bat for long periods of time and that’s what we needed at the top so the middle order can come in when the bowlers are a bit more tired.”

As Ben Jones of CricViz pointed out, no player has left more balls in Test cricket than Sibley since the right-hander debuted against New Zealand in November last year.

Since Dom Sibley debuted in Test cricket, no player has left more deliveries - and it's not even close. #ENGvWI

Don't love to watch him bat; but I love to watch him leave.

📝https://t.co/6JVwqKXcZX pic.twitter.com/TlIoS5mvLu

— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) July 16, 2020

England suffered a setback before play started when it was forced to leave out Jofra Archer after the fast bowler admitted to breaking coronavirus protocols.

Archer left the bio-secure bubble where his teammates were staying to go home to Brighton on Monday following the end of the first Test, before the team travelled up to Manchester.

The Barbados-born quick’s absence deprived England of genuine speed on a pitch that traditionally assists fast bowlers after the hosts had already decided to rest Mark Wood, as well as James Anderson.

“He went home,” said Silverwood of Archer. “Obviously that breaches the protocol of what we have set up here.

“I spoke to (West Indies coach) Phil Simmons this morning and am grateful for the way they have reacted.”

RELATED: Archer axed after COVID-19 breach

Asked if he felt let down by Archer, former England bowler Silverwood added: “We feel he has made a mistake. He is a young man and he’s made a bad judgment call.

“He knows he’s done that and we will support him as best we can.”

West Indies’ quicks made a wayward start in a match where a win would see the Caribbean side secure a first Test series victory in England for 32 years.

But on the stroke of lunch, Chase struck with just his second ball to have Rory Burns LBW for 15.

And the first ball back saw England’s 1/29 become 2/29 when Zak Crawley fell for a golden duck after tamely turning Chase straight to West Indies captain Jason Holder at leg-slip.

Sibley was content to play the waiting game.

England skipper Joe Root, who missed his side’s four-wicket loss in last week’s first Test at Southampton to attend the birth of his second child, survived the hat-trick.

He helped Sibley add 52, with much of that stand compiled while West Indies fast bowler Shannon Gabriel — man-of-the-match at Southampton — was off the field injured.

But young paceman Alzarri Joseph, using the width of the crease, lured Root, then on 23, into chasing a ball outside off stump, with second slip Holder catching a thick edge.

Sibley had a let-off shortly before tea when, on 44, a tough chance went down at short leg off Chase.

And he was reprieved again on 68 when the usually reliable Holder dropped a routine slip chance off Gabriel. Sibley then survived an LBW appeal on 82 from Kemar Roach due to umpire’s call.

Meanwhile, normally fluent all-rounder Stokes, back among the ranks after standing in as skipper at Southampton, needed 119 balls to reach fifty on a day where a sluggish outfield deprived England of several boundaries.

As in the first Test, players from both teams and the umpires took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign before play started at Old Trafford.

Shannon Gabriel tried his hardest but breakthroughs were tough to come by.