Ton-up Stokes rides his luck against Windies

England’s Ben Stokes made the most of being dropped twice to score a hundred that took the shine off an improved bowling display by the West Indies on the first day of the second Test at Headingley yesterday.Stokes’s score of exactly 100 was the cornerstone of England’s modest 258 all out.Yet a good day for the West Indies, 19 for one in reply at stumps, could have been so much better.Both Stokes and England captain Joe Root, who made 59 after winning the toss, were dropped in the slips in single figures. Stokes was missed again on 98, with the three errors effectively costing the West Indies some 142 runs.Recalled fast bowler Shannon Gabriel led the attack with four wickets for 51 runs in 17 overs and new-ball partner Kemar Roach took four for 71 in 19.5.This was still an encouraging display by the West Indies given their utterly inept performance in the field during an innings and 209-run defeat inside three days in the inaugural day/night Test in Britain at Edgbaston last week that saw them go 1-0 down in this three-match series.Conditions in what was a standard red-ball clash looked set fair for batting when Root won the toss on a straw-coloured pitch beneath blue skies.Yet England still slumped to 71 for four shortly after lunch. Gabriel had bowled 24 no-balls in a pink-ball warm-up fixture against Derbyshire prior to the first Test.But he soon found his range in Leeds.Alastair Cook, who made 243 at Edgbaston, fell for 11 on Friday when England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer edged Gabriel low to Kyle Hope at third slip.Both Tom Westley and Mark Stoneman, each looking to cement their Test places, were dismissed cheaply by Roach to leave England struggling at 37 for three. They should have been 44 for four when Root nicked Gabriel only for Kieran Powell to drop the routine chance at first slip.When Dawid Malan, fresh from a maiden Test fifty at Edgbaston, played onto West Indies captain Jason Holder for eight, England were, however, 71 for four.But with England on 100 for four, second slip Kraigg Brathwaite dropped Stokes off Roach.To make matters worse for the West Indies, the edge went for four and left-handed batsman Stokes then drove Roach to the extra-cover rope.Root, leading England on his Yorkshire home ground for the first time, equalled South Africa star AB de Villiers’s all-time record of fifties in 12 consecutive Tests when he swept recalled leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for four.ScorecardEngland 1st InningsA. Cook c K Hope b Gabriel 11M. Stoneman c Dowrich b Roach 19T. Westley lbw b Roach 3J. Root c Blackwood b Bishoo 59D. Malan b Holder 8B. Stokes c Dowrich b Gabriel 100J. Bairstow c Holder b Gabriel 2M. Ali c Chase b Roach 22C. Woakes c Dowrich b Roach 23S. Broad b Gabriel 0J. Anderson not out 0Extras (b2, lb3, w4, nb2) 11Total (all out, 70.5 overs, 319 mins) 258Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Cook), 2-26 (Westley), 3-37 (Stoneman), 4-71 (Malan), 5-140 (Root), 6-152 (Bairstow), 7-220 (Ali), 8-258 (Stokes), 9-258 (Broad), 10-258 (Woakes)Bowling: Roach 19.5-1-71-4; Gabriel 17-4-51-4 (1w); Holder 16-5-45-1 (3w, 2nb); Chase 12-1-59-0; Bishoo 6-0-27-1West Indies 1st InningsK. Brathwaite not out 13K. Powell c Cook b Anderson 5D. Bishoo not out 1Extras 0Total (1 wkt, 12 overs, 48 mins) 19Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Powell)To bat: K Hope, S Hope, R Chase, J Blackwood, S Dowrich, J Holder, K Roach, S GabrielBowling: Anderson 6-3-5-1; Broad 5-1-12-0; Woakes 1-0-2-0Match position: West Indies are 239 runs behind with nine first-innings wickets standing