West Indies tour diary: Honest conversations, Joe Root’s gift and kindness from Kent

Ben Stokes bowled far more than anyone – including his captain – expected him to. Having picked up a side strain bowling bouncers in Sydney on a poor Ashes tour, expectations were well and truly managed before this game.

But from day two onwards (with a rest on the fourth), Stokes got through a whopping 41 overs. He has only bowled more than that three times in his 77 Tests.

Many criticised Joe Root for failing to remove the ball from his hands, but it was not quite that simple with Mark Wood already injured and Stokes much more effective than Chris Woakes and Craig Overton.

The captain and vice-captain chose to walk the tightrope based on “more honest” conversations between them on the matter of his fitness. Stokes is in better shape than he was in Australia.

“We were trying to win a Test match and trying to tell Ben Stokes not to bowl was very difficult. He was incredible throughout the whole game,” said Root.

“We tried to be smart throughout because the one thing that came out of Australia was making sure we had honest conversations. We said we wanted to manage him as best we could throughout the game and he’s probably bowled a bit more than we anticipated but he has stood up to it very well.”

Let’s see how Stokes pulls up in the coming days…

When Root completed his 24th century, he took off his helmet, put his bat on the ground and dug a necklace out from under his shirt, giving it a kiss. It was a gift from his son Alfie, five.

“Alf made it for me before we came out,” he said. “I found it in my bag before I went out there, thought I’d put it on and it got me to a hundred – so I thought I’d acknowledge that.”

Root, like most cricketers, is a superstitious man. Last year, he started doing his pre-match press