At 9am the England supporters had swamped the public spaces outside the Kensington Oval, perusing the market stalls, taking on early fluids and jostling for pictures in front of the cover-driving statue of Sir Garfield Sobers.
Inside the so-called mecca of Caribbean cricket another all-rounder was also being celebrated. In the pre-match huddle Ben Stokes received his 50th England cap from his former county teammate Steve Harmison, who once planted his personal flag in the region when blasting Michael Vaughan’s side to a series win in 2004.
As well as informing Stokes that on first seeing him play as a spiky-haired teenager in the Durham academy he contacted Andrew Flintoff to tell him a successor had been found, Harmison offered a reminder that Stokes’s best years in an England shirt still lie ahead.
With the Bristol incident of 2017 now in the rearview mirror, having been wrapped up by a cricket disciplinary hearing in December, one hopes Ashington’s most famous cricketing son is right. And it was in the afternoon session, just before a sprinkle of rain brought an early tea, that Stokes gave Harmison’s prophecy some early credence.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope had been making good on the huge banner outside the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott stand that proclaims “WI READY”, their second-wicket stand of 76 starting to induce both memories of their famous Headingley heist 18 months ago and grumblings about England’s chosen XI.
Stokes tasted some of this himself in the morning. Hope had unfurled some wonderfully crisp drives through mid-off from some overly-full bowling – the kind of shots that induce a kick of frustration by the bowler but wide-eyed admiration from everyone else – while Brathwaite was being typically obdurate bar one calculated assault on Moeen Ali.
But on his return to the Malcolm Marshall end Stokes found his mark, first smashing the pitch to induce a touch of extra bounce and seam for the edge of Brathwaite’s bat, before a full ball from around the wicket swung against the breeze that runs from leg to off to trap Darren Bravo for an lbw as clear as the Caribbean sea.
In the space of five balls the day’s complexion had changed, while the two facets of his bowling – indefatigable brawn and a natural ability to get the ball hooping – had also been demonstrated.
The first of these strikes, as well the late removal of Kemar Roach to a ball that climbed, will have been noticed by Stuart Broad, who is getting the ball to move away from the right-handers again and had been itching to play this Test in a very real sense. What he suspects to be a case of bed bugs may not have caused his omission – nor forced England’s players to sleep on mattresses in the hotel corridors, as was suggested elsewhere – but it has added some additional prickliness for a seamer who has 433 Test wickets but finds himself down the pecking order.
Adil Rashid, whose leg-breaks were never expected to be penetrative on a first-day pitch, may have been the man preferred in the side but it probably says more about the high regard in which Sam Curran is held (as well a desire from Joe Root and the brains trust to pack the batting all the way down to No 10).
After losing his first toss in nine, Root described the final selection as a “gut call” – the circuit-breaker amid a spell of overthink, most likely – but Curran, who knows only victory in his fledgling Test career, did not quite capitalise on the show of faith from his captain early on.
Swing was not forthcoming for his left-armers, despite natural assistance when bowling from the Joel Garner end, and he was a fraction too short at times. Root requested more overs from the typically thrifty Jimmy Anderson and Stokes, and gave him just a couple with the second new ball.
Patience is clearly required with a 20-year-old and it is worth remembering Curran has previously declared his intention to be more of an impact all-rounder in the mould of Stokes: the heir to Flintoff’s heir, if you will.
