Live Cricket Score: England vs West Indies, 2nd Test

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and opted to play in the second Test against England at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

With sunny blue skies overhead, the conditions looked ideal for hitting on a light grass pitch.

But Brathwaite’s decision was understandable given his side were bowled out for just 121 and 136 during an innings and 114-run defeat to England in the first Test at Lord’s last week.

“It looks like a good cricket ground, but I think we’ll use what we get today,” Brathwaite said, with West Indies looking to level the three-match series at 1-1.

“With the ball, we could be much more disciplined. This is something we talked about.

“On the batting side, we need to build partnerships and score at least 300 runs in the first innings.”

England captain Ben Stokes added: “It was a tough one if we had won the toss. I’ll keep what we were going to do to myself.”

Both sides have already named their squads ahead of the draw, with England recalling fast bowler Mark Wood after veteran seamer James Anderson retired from international duty with 704 Test wickets — a record for any bowler pace in the format — following Lord’s Test.

But the West Indies, who had planned to remain unchanged, were forced into a late change when spinner Gudakesh Motie woke up with flu on the morning of the game and withdrew.

It was a blow for the tourists, with Motie the only one of their batsmen to pass 30 at Lord’s, where he was also the West Indies’ most impressive bowler.

His place was taken by spin-bowler all-rounder Kevin Sinclair, who came in for the second Test of his career.

Sinclair made a fifty on his Test debut as the West Indies produced a stunning upset to beat Australia by eight runs in Brisbane in January.

Teams:

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wkt), Kevin Sinclair, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales