England vs West Indies 1st Test Highlights: Rory Burns, Joe Denly Fight For England Amid Rain On Day 1
England vs West Indies 1st Test 2020: England lose their opener Dom Sibley early, following which rain intervened and stopped play at a bio-secure venue.
International cricket resumed after a four-month coronavirus shutdown on Wednesday as England and West Indies players, who rekindled the powerful imagery of clenched fists inside black gloves, took a knee under grey skies in Southampton in support of the global campaign against racial injustice. Only 82 minutes' play was possible on a day marred by rain and bad light interruptions after weeks of glorious sunshine in Britain. England stand-in captain Ben Stokes won the toss after bad weather meant the morning session was washed out. The players gathered in a semi-circle on the pitch before play started to observe a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the coronavirus and West Indies great Everton Weekes, who died last week at the age of 95. They then dropped to one knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign following the death in the United States of George Floyd in May. West Indies players  wore black gloves on their right hands in an echo of the "Black Power" protests made famous by US athletes at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. (SCORECARD)
Highlights, England Vs West Indies 1st Test, straight from the Ageas Bowl Stadium, Southampton.
This is all for today. Thank you for joining us for the live coverage of the first day of the first Test between England and the West Indies in Southampton.
The play on Day 2 might be longer as only 17.4 overs were bowled in Southampton today and the match officials will look to make up for some of the lost overs on Thursday.
We were supposed to see the final session of the day after tea-break but the rain has made its appearance again. The pitch has been covered and so is the entire square.
End of the first over! Kemar Roach starts with a maiden over. Spectators glued with TV sets will have to wait a little more for first runs after a long COVID-19 hiatus.
"Tough decision with Broad and Woakes. But we feel that we can have an extra dimension with the pace of Wood and Archer. To be fair, he wished me very well on my big day. Very proud but my main focus is to get the win," stand-in skipper Ben Stokes says at the toss.
England Playing XI: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Joe Denly, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes (captain), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wicket-keeper), Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, James Anderson
We are already past 3:30 PM IST, the scheduled start time for the first Test. We will have to wait a little more for the international cricket to resume after the COVID-19 hiatus.