England v West Indies: first Test, day one – live!

OBO updates from the behind-closed-doors Test at the Rose BowlLet nerves jangle and adrenaline flow: the first Test is hereSend your thoughts to Rob by email here

10.10am BST

Stuart Broad has been dropped for a home Test for the first time in 12 years*. I pity the fool who had to impart this to him.

* He missed a Test against West Indies in 2012 but was rested on that occasion.

Related: England's Wood poised for West Indies Test with Broad set to miss out

10.04am BST

It’s a dank day at the Ageas Bowl, but it’s dry at the moment and the covers were taken off around half an hour ago. There will probably be some interruptions in the first half of the day.

9.29am BST

Cricket, lovely cricket. After four months of vodcasts, watchalongs and virtual Tests, the real thing is back. It’s been a lot of fun reliving the great moments of modern English cricket with those involved, not to mention nosing round houses, trying to deduce whether anyone has rearranged their bookshelves for show (hang on, is that Hegel next to the Da Vinci Code?). But nothing compares to the blank canvas of live sport.

It’ll be cricket with a difference – no spectators, no saliva, no skin folds on Dom Sibley – but it’s still cricket, Test cricket at that, and it should be great. This is the plan. England will play three back-to-back Tests against West Indies, the first at the Ageas Bowl and the last two at Old Trafford. If all is biosecure and dandy, they will then play a three-Test series against Pakistan in August.

Related: Let nerves jangle and adrenaline flow: the first Test of summer is here | Vic Marks

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