West Indies won the toss and decided to field in this test to provide the 103^rd occasion of West Indies doing so,  It also provides the 28th occasion of West Indies doing so against England and also provides the 14^th occasion West Indies doing so against England in England.

It also provides the third occasion of West Indies doing so against England in a test at Manchester. All the three occasions are tabulated below

No	Team	Toss	Bat	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	West Indies	won	2nd	v England	Manchester	22 Jul 1939
2	West Indies	won	2nd	v England	Manchester	10 Jul 1980
3	West Indies	won	2nd	v England	Manchester	16 Jul 2020

The previous occasion of West Indies inserting England after it had won the toss at Manchester was 40 years ago –  in July 1980.

It is interesting to note that the interval of West Indies inserting England at Manchester in the first two occasions was 41 years and the interval between the second and third occasion is 40 years.

Z Crawley collected a duck in England’s first innings to provide the 143^rd occasion of an England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings. It also provides the 73^rd occasion of England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings on home soil.

Z Crawley collected the first ball duck in England’s first innings to provide the 20th occasion of an England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings with data of first ball ducks wherever available. It also provides the 13th occasion of England batsman batting at number three scoring a first ball duck in a test innings on home soil with data of first ball ducks wherever available.

Z Crawley collected the first ball duck in England’s first innings to provide the third occasion of an England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings against West Indies with data of first ball ducks wherever available. It also provides the first occasion of England batsman batting at number three scoring a first ball duck in a test innings on home soil against West Indies with data of first ball ducks wherever available.

Z Crawley collected the first ball duck in England’s first innings to provide the fourth occasion of an England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings at Manchester with data of first ball ducks wherever available. All the four such occasions are tabulated below

No	Player	Runs	BF	Inns	Opp	Ground	Start Date
1	RES Wyatt	0	1	1	Aus	Manchester	06 Jul 1934
2	GA Gooch	0	1	1	NZl	Manchester	30 Jun 1994
3	JE Root	0	1	4	Aus	Manchester	04 Sep 2019
4	Z Crawley	0	1	1	Win	Manchester	16 Jul 2020

Z Crawley collected the first ball duck in England’s first innings to provide the first occasion of an England batsman batting at number three scoring a duck in a test innings at Manchester against West Indies with data of first ball ducks wherever available.

JE Root is captaining England on 40^th occasion. He became the seventh captain to lead England on 40 plus occasions,

No	Player	Mat	Runs	HS	C	W	5	Ct
1	AN Cook	59	4844	263	12	1	0	68
2	MA Atherton	54	3815	185*	8	1	0	33
3	MP Vaughan	51	3170	166	9	1	0	27
4	AJ Strauss	50	3343	169	9	–	–	60
5	N Hussain	45	2487	155	5	0	0	27
6	PBH May	41	3080	285*	10	–	–	28
7	JE Root	40	3028	226	6	13	0	49

JE Root was playing his 10th test against West Indies. He became the 12^th England cricketer to appear in more than ten tests against West Indies.

No	Player	Mat	Runs	HS	C	W	5	Ct	St
1	DB Close	11	574	70	0	1	0	9	0
2	PD Collingwood	11	857	161	4	1	0	18	0
3	PAJ DeFreitas	11	239	55*	0	33	0	4	0
4	GR Dilley	11	71	28	0	36	1	2	0
5	MJ Hoggard	11	105	38	0	34	0	4	0
6	DR Pringle	11	261	46*	0	28	3	4	0
7	BA Stokes	11	703	100	1	28	1	13	0
8	ME Trescothick	11	675	107	2	0	0	15	0
9	DL Amiss	10	1130	262*	4	–	–	2	0
10	ER Dexter	10	866	136*	2	12	0	2	0
11	PI Pocock	10	84	23	0	22	1	4	0
12	JE Root	10	826	182*	3	3	0	13	0

DP Sibley and BA Stokes added 126 runs in an unfinished stand for the fourth wicket in this game to provide the 35^th occasion of England batsmen posting a three figure partnership for the fourth wicket against West Indies in a test innings. It also provides the 20^th such occasion by England batsmen on home soil against West Indies and sixth such occasion in a test at Manchester.

No	Partners	Wkt	Runs	I	Opp	Ground	Start Date
1	WR Hammond, DR Jardine	4	120	2	Win	Manchester	21 Jul 1928
2	RA Smith, GP Thorpe	4	104	2	Win	Manchester	27 Jul 1995
3	AJ Stewart, ME Trescothick	4	179	2	Win	Manchester	3 Aug 2000
4	AJ Strauss, GP Thorpe	4	177	2	Win	Manchester	12 Aug 2004
5	A Flintoff, RWT Key	4	120*	4	Win	Manchester	12 Aug 2004
6	DP Sibley, BA Stokes	4	126*	1	Win	Manchester	16 Jul 2020

DP Sibley and BA Stokes added 126 runs in an unfinished stand for the fourth wicket in this game to provide the first occasion of England batsmen posting a three figure partnership for the fourth wicket against West Indies in the first innings of the Manchester test.

It also provides the fourth such occasion by England batsmen against West Indies in the first innings of a test. All such occasions are tabulated below

No	Partners	Wkt	Runs	I	Opp	Ground	Start Date
1	RA Smith, GP Thorpe	4	111	1	Win	Lord’s	22 Jun 1995
2	IR Bell, MP Vaughan	4	146	1	Win	The Oval	19 Aug 2004
3	AN Cook, DJ Malan	4	162	1	Win	Birmingham	17 Aug 2017
4	DP Sibley, BA Stokes	4	126*	1	Win	Manchester	16 Jul 2020

DP Sibley scored 86 not out to provide the 76^th occasion of an England batsman scoring a fifty against West Indies at home. It also provides 48th occasion of an England batsman scoring a half century against West Indies at home.