England lost opener Rory Burns on the stroke of lunch as they came to terms with the dramatic withdrawal of Jofra Archer from the second Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford on Thursday.
In a match they have to win to square the three-match series at 1-1, England were forced to leave out Archer before Thursday's first day after the fast bowler admitted to breaking coronavirus protocols.
It looked as if England, sent in to bat in overcast Manchester conditions by West Indies captain Jason Holder, would get through a rain-shortened first session without losing a wicket after the tourists' fast bowlers erred in line and length.
But on the stroke of lunch, off-spinner Roston Chase struck with just his second ball to dismiss Burns for 15. Burns compounded his dismissal by wasting a review when he was plumb lbw, with England 29-1.
Sussex fast bowler Archer broke the rules by leaving the bio-secure bubble where his teammates were staying to go home to Brighton on Monday following the end of the first Test, before the team travelled up to Manchester.
His removal from the squad was announced just three hours before play was due to begin at Old Trafford. Archer's absence deprived England of genuine speed on an Old Trafford pitch with a reputation for aiding fast bowlers after the hosts had already decided to rest James Anderson and Mark Wood.
West Indies were unchanged from the side that beat England by four wickets in last week's first Test at Southampton. If they win one of the two remaining matches of this campaign, both taking place at Old Trafford, the West Indies will secure their first Test series victory in England for 32 years.
West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and elected to field in the second Test against England at Emirates Old Trafford.
Victory in either of the two remaining Tests at Old Trafford would see the West Indies clinch their first series win in England for 32 years. Rain delayed the scheduled 1000 GMT start by 90 minutes, with Holder hoping his bowlers could take advantage of the overcast conditions that saw play start with the floodlights blazing away.
"With the overhead conditions, we're going to try to make full use of it," Holder told Sky Sports at the toss. "We've got to start fresh. This is a fresh Test match, a different venue, and we've got to understand that game (first Test) has gone," added the world's top-ranked all-rounder, who took a Test-best 6-42 at Southampton. "It has brought a smile to a lot of people in the Caribbean's faces and we need to keep it that way."
By contrast, England made four changes, with fast bowler Jofra Archer dramatically left out for a breach of the bio-secure regulations. "No (not ideal)," said returning England captain Joe Root when asked about Archer's situation. "But enough has been said on it, the stuff that has gone out this morning. As a side, we've now just got to look at the next five days, put in a good performance and make sure we bounce back from last week. We've definitely got an attack that can take 20 wickets here this week and very much looking forward to hopefully doing so."
Star batsman Root is back in place of the dropped Joe Denly after missing the first Test to attend the birth of his second child. "I'm very much looking forward to getting out there and hopefully getting some big runs," he said.
Stuart Broad, second behind Anderson in England's all-time list of leading Test wicket-takers, was recalled after being controversially rested for the first Test. Chris Woakes and Sam Curran also returned to complete England's pace attack with Ben Stokes, the stand-in skipper at the Ageas Bowl, the only survivor in a bowling line-up in which off-spinner Dom Bess kept his place. As happened at Southampton, players on both sides, together with the umpires, took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign before play started.
England were wearing black armbands in memory of former Lancashire chairman David Hodgkiss, who died aged 71 during the coronavirus pandemic. Hodgkiss was a key figure in the decade-long £60 million regeneration of Old Trafford.
Teams
England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (capt), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wkt), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Jermaine Blackwood, Jason Holder (capt), Shane Dowrich (wkt), Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG), Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)