England vs West Indies: Players take a knee before the start of play in support of Black Lives Matter movement

International cricket resumed finally after a gap of 117 days on July 8. England and West Indies locked horns in the first of the three-match Test series at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. However, it wasn’t only that the cricket was resuming. The death of the African-American George Floyd has moved the world and the Black Lives Matter campaign has started. And England and West Indies cricket teams weren’t behind either.

Both the teams sported the Black Lives Matter logo on the collars of their shirt and also took a knee ahead of the start of play on the opening day. After all the players took the field, all the West Indies players and the two England batsmen, along with the rest of the players outside the boundary, sat on one knee in support of the BLM movement.

Here’s the video:

England and West Indies players take a knee ahead of the first #EngvWI Test in support of #BlackLivesMatter

Watch live on Sky Sports Cricket now or follow here: https://t.co/ZUqX1InU7t pic.twitter.com/avR3aFUiTj

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 8, 2020

The players also stood in semi-circle with social distancing to observe a minute’s silence in memory of victims of COVID-19 and the West Indies great Everton Weekes who passed away last week at the age of 95.

What happened on Day 1?

As far as action in the middle is concerned, the play finally began three hours after the schedule start. England, after opting to bat first, lost Dom Sibley for a four-ball duck as Shannon Gabriel struck in his first over to castle the batsman. However, since then Rory Burns and Joe Denly survived a few close calls and scored a few runs as well.

Rain continuously interrupted the proceedings and allowed only 17.4 overs of play to happen. An early tea was taken due to bad light only for the action to not resume again with England on 35/1. The fans and the teams will be hoping for the better weather for the rest of the day for this match.

In terms of team selections, England left out Stuart Broad surprisingly for the first time in last eight years in a home Test. They preferred Mark Wood for his extra pace and it remains to be seen if the move works wonders for them. West Indies, on the other hand, went with an all-pace attack leaving out Rahkeem Cornwall.