Ruthless Root, Cook put England in control
Birmingham: England were 348 for three after winning the toss at stumps on the first day of the first Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Former skipper Alastair Cook was 153 not out after sharing a stand of 248 with captain Joe Root (136) in what is the first day/night Test staged in England.
The duo came together after England had briefly been in trouble at 39 for two.
Dawid Malan was 28 not out at the close.
This fixture, the 50th Test at Edgbaston, is the first of a three-match series.
They had joined forces with England faltering at 39 for two after Test debutant Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley were both dismissed for eight.
But from then on the West Indies found life tough against two proven world-class batsmen.
Root’s fifty was his 11th in successive Tests — a new England record and just one shy of South Africa star AB de Villiers’s all-time leading mark of 12.
But while his conversion rate of fifties into hundreds has sometimes been a source of frustration to Root, this time the Yorkshireman went on to score his 13th century in 58 career Tests.
