Rain fails to dampen powerful return to Test cricket

While rain and bad light may have marred Test cricket's return in Southampton, the bad weather could not stop both England and West Indies from delivering a powerful message in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Players, support staff and officials took a knee before the first ball in a show of solidarity, while the Windies players each wore a black glove and held their fists high.

That gesture followed a minute's silence for the passing of West Indies legend Sir Everton Weekes, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 95.

Those powerful moments came three hours into the scheduled day's play which was delayed by light rain and a wet outfield.

When it was time to the toss the coin it was England captain Ben Stokes, in his maiden Test as skipper, who decided to bat first.

Stokes revealed veteran seamer Stuart Broad had been left out, with the extreme pace pair of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood partnering ageless quick Jimmy Anderson in the frontline fast bowling attack. 

After a three-hour delay, Test cricket's 117-day hiatus was finally over but only three overs were bowled before rain forced the players from the field.

However, there was enough time for Windies paceman Shannon Gabriel to draw a false leave out of England opener Dominic Sibley, who was bowled without playing a shot for a four-ball duck.

Only 82 minutes and 17.4 overs were permitted on the opening day, with Rory Burns (20no) and No.3 Joe Denly (14no) guiding the hosts to 1-35 at stumps.

But the story of the day belongs to the signs of unity and solidarity of the competing teams, whose players have a Black Lives Matter logo on their playing shirts.

West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick said the tourists wanted to do something different in showing their support for racial equality and was appreciative of the hosts for their support.

“That is something that we met as a group and we discussed," said Estwick. "That’s something that we wanted to do, we wanted to make a statement and we wanted to be different to everybody else.

"That was our way of showing our support to the Black Lives Matter campaign.

"We felt like we wanted to do something different, we felt if we wanted to make a bigger statement we should wear the black glove and it worked as people are talking about it.

"For me it was a good feeling because we have to make change. For us it’s all about equality, it’s all about honesty, it’s all about treating everybody equal. For us that’s very, very important.

"We were happy as a group to do it and I thought it was really wonderful to see England supporting us with the whole thing. Obviously it came off very, very well."