England end first day in control after unbeaten half centuries from Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope

Buttler struck an unbeaten 56 with two sixes, while Pope ended 91 not out, having struck 18 boundaries between them, putting on an unbroken 136 for the fifth wicket

Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler dragged England out of a difficult start to place the home side in a strong position after the first day of the deciding Test at Emirates Old Trafford.

After being put into bat by visiting captain Jason Holder, Dom Sibley was dismissed in the first over of proceedings by Kemar Roach, before Joe Root was run out by Roston Chase.

In between, Shannon Gabriel had provided the tourists with a scare of their own, limping off the field just two balls into his fourth over. However, he returned to the field before the end of the morning to assist a seam attack that was already missing Alzarri Joseph.

Joseph was omitted to allow West Indies to bring in the off-spin of Rahkeem Cornwall, who took a fine catch at slip to dismiss Rory Burns off the bowling of fellow spinner Chase.

Burns made 57, while Ben Stokes – the star of the second Test – fell to a fine delivery from Roach, the pick of the visiting bowlers.

It meant that Pope and Buttler came together with the score at 122 for 4, with both men batting a position higher than previously. England left out Zak Crawley to squeeze in a pack of seamers, with the need for a reshuffle accentuated by concerns over Stokes’ quad muscle and subsequent capacity to bowl.

Buttler struck an unbeaten 56 with two sixes, while Pope ended 91 not out, having struck 18 boundaries between them, putting on 136 together.

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