• Pope, Buttler steady England’s ship

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    An unbeaten 136-run stand between Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler has put England in a strong position by the close of play on day one of the third Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford.

    The visiting captain Jason Holder won the toss on another overcast day in Manchester and again opted to have a bowl first – a decision that yielded an early breakthrough after Kemar Roach trapped Dom Sibley in-front in the very first over.

    READ: West Indies bowl first in Manchester

    Joe Root was the next batsman to go after being run-out for the second consecutive Test match before Roach cleaned up the dangerous Ben Stokes with an absolute beauty that saw England in a bit of trouble at 92-3.

    Having just reached a valuable half-century, opener Rory Burns was then undone by Roston Chase after Rahkeem Cornwall took a sharp catch.

    With the English batting lineup in a spot of bother, Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler combined to steady the ship as both surpassed the 50-run mark to guide the hosts to stumps on 258-4.

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    Pope (91) and Buttler (56) have both been short on runs throughout this series and will be hoping to kick on tomorrow when play gets under way with respective centuries in sight.

    Saturday’s action could, however, be affected by rain with a heavy forecast set to intervene with play over the course of the weekend.

    Teams:

    England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Joe Root (c), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Ollie Pope, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Dom Bess, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

    West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder, 9 Rahkeem Cornwall, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

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    Andre Huisamen