PICS: Pope century puts England in command vs Windies

IMAGES from the second Test between England and the West Indies in Nottingham on Thursday.

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IMAGE: England's Ollie Pope celebrates scoring a century on Day 1 of the second Test against the West Indies in Nottingham on Thursday. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

Ollie Pope rode his luck to score 121 and lead England to a rapid 416 all out on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Dropped on 46 and 54, Pope compiled his sixth Test century as the hosts built on Ben Duckett's sparkling 71 in the morning to establish a strong position.

"Really good day. The way we went about it; being put in to bat and putting 416 on the board is a really strong day," Pope told the BBC.

"Happy to get the three figures and make it count."

England lost Zak Crawley to the third ball of the match, caught at slip by Alick Athanaze off Alzarri Joseph, but Duckett hit four boundaries in a row to get started and sped to his fifty off 32 balls.

The left-hander looked well on course for his fourth Test century until he pushed at a full ball from Shamar Joseph and nicked a low catch to Jason Holder at second slip.

IMAGE: England opener Ben Duckett hit four boundaries in a row to get started and sped to his fifty off 32 balls. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

Pope, dropped by Athanaze at gully just before lunch, should also have been caught by Holder after the interval before Joe Root, on 14, top-edged an attempted pull off Jayden Seales and skied a catch to Alzarri Joseph.

IMAGE: West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Ben Duckett, caught by Jason Holder. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

Harry Brook moved briskly to 36, including a six over backward point, before he edged a paddle sweep off spinner Kevin Sinclair to Kirk McKenzie at short leg and the bowler celebrated with a backward somersault.

Pope grew in confidence, moving to his hundred with a crisp four through square leg before removing his helmet and raising his bat to the crowd.

IMAGE: West Indies spinner Kevin Sinclair celebrates dismissing Harry Brook, caught by Kirk McKenzie. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

He edged a catch to Kavem Hodge off Alzarri Joseph but captain Ben Stokes made a welcome return to form with the bat, hitting eight fours in his 69 before being caught off part-time spinner Hodge.

Jamie Smith (36) and Chris Woakes (37) chipped in down the order and England will feel confident of taking advantage of a positive start to move 2-0 up in the series following their innings victory in the first Test at Lord's.

IMAGE: Joe Root and Ollie Pope walk back to the pavilion at the lunch break. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

"I think we did brilliant," West Indies' Sinclair said.

"Having said that, we put Pope down a couple of times and he got a hundred; so that hurt us.

"We did fairly well to bowl them out. Too many runs in the end, but I would say it was a good day for us as a team."

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