England vs West Indies 2020 | Ben Stokes’ 176 Puts England on Top in Second Test

Ben Stokes slammed 176 before Sam Curran dismissed John Campbell to put England on top in the second Test against the West Indies at Manchester.

Stokes’ knock and Dom Sibley’s 120 – the duo shared 260 for the fourth wicket – powered England to 469 for 9 declared, leaving West Indies a tricky hour to bat before stumps.

West Indies’ openers began stubbornly before first-change bowler Curran trapped Campbell lbw for 12, leaving West Indies 32 for 1, trailing by 437 runs.

Off-spinner Roston Chase took 5-172 in 44 overs as he again troubled England, having taken a Test-best 8-60 against them in Barbados last year during a victory that helped the West Indies regain the Wisden Trophy.

Sibley’s hundred was one of the slowest in Tests by an England batsman, the opener batting for 471 minutes — nearly eight hours — to complete a 312-ball century featuring a mere fours.

But the 24-year-old Warwickshire right-hander’s second hundred in his eight Tests, following his 133 not out against South Africa at Cape Town in January, was a valuable innings.

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And he made normally reliable West Indies captain Jason Holder pay for dropping him in the slips on 68.

Run-scoring was difficult against a swinging ball and on a sluggish outfield, with even the usually fluent Stokes taking nearly six hours and 285 balls to complete his 10th Test century.

But Stokes’ third fifty came off just 46 balls and, having given Sibley a “head start” of 31.2 overs, he overtook his team-mate’s total.

England resumed on 207-3, with Sibley 86 not out and Stokes, their stand-in captain when Root missed last week’s four-wicket loss in the first Test at Southampton to attend the birth of his second child, unbeaten on 59.

In Pics, England vs West Indies, Second Test Day 2 at Manchester

West Indies made a wayward start on Friday, with Shannon Gabriel bowling several wide deliveries.

Stokes, 99 not out at lunch, went to three figures with a cheeky reverse-swept four off Chase.

Holder delayed taking the new ball until the 94th over, perhaps concerned it would make run-scoring easier for England.

As if proving that point, Stokes promptly clipped his rival all-rounder through midwicket for four.

The left-handed batsman upped the tempo still further with a remarkable check-drive six over midwicket off a respectable Alzarri Joseph delivery.

Having batted for over nine hours Sibley holed out to deep midwicket off Chase.

It was the end of England’s second-highest fourth-wicket partnership against the West Indies, behind the celebrated stand of 411 by Peter May and Colin Cowdrey at Edgbaston in 1957.

Stokes, dropped in the gully on 157 off Gabriel, then gave Roach something to celebrate at last.

In his 71st over of the series, the persevering paceman had Stokes, attempting an ambitious reverse sweep, caught behind to end a 356-ball innings featuring 17 fours and two sixes.

But with this match being played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus, Stokes walked off to a ripple of applause from his team-mates rather than the roar of a crowd that greeted his match-winning Ashes hundred at Headingley last year.

England’s 395-6 became 395-7 when next ball Roach, whose last Test wicket before this series came when he dismissed India captain Virat Kohli in Kingston in September, removed Chris Woakes with the aid of a gully catch.

Jos Buttler made 40 and Dom Bess a useful 31 not out before Root declared.