England West Indies: Jonny Bairstow scored two hundreds in successive Tests for the FIRST time

Jonny Bairstow scored his eighth Test hundred to lead England’s fightback on day one of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua.

The hosts reduced England to 48 for four but a determined Bairstow led the counterpunch alongside handy contributions from Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes as England.

Sportsmail‘s LAWRENCE BOOTH provides the big stats from a fascinating opening day’s play at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Jonny Bairstow has now scored two Test centuries in successive games, following his 113 at Sydney

Since the start of the 2020 home summer, Joe Root has come out to bat with the scoreboard reading 100 or more only three times in 42 innings. On Tuesday, he was batting as early as the third over.

After the first session, there seemed little prospect of a new batting era. At lunch, England were 57 for four – compared with 59 for four at lunch on the first day of the Ashes at Brisbane.

Having gone more than three years without a Test century, Jonny Bairstow has now scored two in successive games, following his 113 at Sydney in January. It’s the first time in his career he has achieved the feat.

Ben Foakes’s 42 was his joint-highest Test score since his debut series in Sri Lanka in November 2018, when he followed a century in his first Test with an unbeaten 65 in his second.

If England can add another 32 runs to their overnight 268 for six, it will be the first time in 13 Test innings that they have reached 300, since making 432 in the victory over India at Headingley last August.

Joe Root has come out to bat with 100 or more on the board only three times in 42 innings since the start of the 2020 home summer

Ben Foakes’s 42 was his joint-highest Test score since his debut series in Sri Lanka