England vs West Indies: Dom Sibley digs in to give hosts second Test initiative after Jofra Archer news

It was a tale of two journeys on day one at Emirates Old Trafford. A brief 60-mile detour in the wrong direction and a 253 ball trudge in the right one.

Jofra Archer’s quick trip home revealed itself on Wednesday evening, throwing second Test plans into disarray. With the resting of James Anderson and Mark Wood, Archer was the only remaining thread to the specialist seam attack of the first Test. When he was officially ruled out at 8am this morning, the line-change was complete. The nature of Anderson and Wood’s pre-match preparation meant they could not simply be plucked off the rack and thrown onto shoulders on a whim. Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran it was.

A penny for Joe Root’s thoughts, returning to England team bubble for these bio-secure Tests following the birth of his second child, Isabella. Handed back the reins to a team 1-0 behind and now with their most effective bowler confined to his room for the next five days at least.

The captain found out of Archer’s misstep late on Wednesday evening and, thus, a restless night followed. The baby might have been at home, but there was just as much sleeplessness and unfathomable mess for Root to clear up here in Manchester.

He lost the toss, too: West Indies choosing to bowl first as play got underway at 12:30pm due to rain. But by 7:30pm, all the visitors had were three wickets for show from 82 overs. The hosts 207 runs to the good.

For a lot of that good, see Dom Sibley’s 86 not out and one of England’s most scenic-route innings imaginable. A first boundary after 91 deliveries. A half-century from 164. The kind of digging in your dad moans you don’t see anymore. To be fair to him, no one was here to see this. And even he might have flicked over to see if anything else was on.

But there was beauty in the tedium. Welcome relief for England fans, too. It was as much an impressive sojourn as Archer’s was negligent. Indeed, just as Archer took responsibility with the ball in the second innings of the first Test, Sibley assumed a similar role here in the first of the second.

It was as much bestowed upon him by the very nature of opening the batting in tricky conditions and two deliveries from Roston Chase that straddled lunch. Having to the very limit of the first hour which was also the game’s opening session, Rory Burns was trapped LBW by the off-spinner, who returned 40 minutes later to have Zak Crawley caught at leg slip straight after the break. England’s topscorer of the first Test with 76 done for a golden duck.

From 29 to two, Joe Root’s extra skip combined with Sibley’s welcome slouch into a back-and-across front-facing movement that felt almost hypnotic with each leave and prod allowed 52 to be added to the score. A lesson of patience was followed by a stark lesson in the joylessness that can come from temptation, regardless of what the internet tells you. How do you conclude otherwise when Root, having looked close to top form up to 23 chased a wide delivery from the impressive Alzarri Joseph and edged through to opposition captain Jason Holder.

That would be West Indies’ lot in an evening session that felt like it would never end. England would have been happy with that, mind, as Sibley combined with last week’s captain and this week’s vice, Ben Stokes, to the tune of 126 runs in their fourth-wicket stand.

It was not without peril. Holder’s hands failed him when Sibley, on 68, edged just as Root did. This time, Shannon Gabriel was the bowler: one who looked like he could have done with a stop at home before this match, too. The standout act at the Ageas Bowl with nine match wickets, he was wayward here. He bowled more deliveries to second slip than he did that troubled batsman like that delivery to Sibley.

The fifty was Stokes, perhaps influenced by Sibley, came from a ball shy of 20 overs. But was as much to do with the comfort of the situation – there are four days left and valuable time on feet to sap Caribbean energy in the field. Despite facing 94 balls fewer than his partner, Stokes struck just as many fours along with a six that, ultimately, saw off Chase’s threat for the day.

If you want a further indication of how welcome this stand was beyond some welcome distraction from the news that broke first thing in the morning, it was that here was this was England’s first century stand in the first innings of a home Test since August 2018, in a series opener against India at Edgbaston.

Moreover, here was a lesson in assessing risk and making progress through leaving rather than scoring. And, more presciently, how you can do the right thing by simply avoiding the wrong thing.