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With sunny blue skies overhead, conditions appeared ideal for batting on a lightly-grassed pitch.
But Brathwaite’s decision was understandable given his side had been bowled out for just 121 and 136 during an innings and 114-run defeat by England in the first Test at Lord’s last week.
“It looks a good cricket pitch, but I think we’ll utilise what we get today,” Brathwaite said, with the West Indies looking to level the three-match series at 1-1.
“With the ball, we could be a lot of more disciplined. That’s one thing we’ve talked about.
“Batting wise, we’ve got to build partnerships and score at least 300 runs in the first innings.”
England captain Ben Stokes added: “It was a tough one if we’d have won the toss. I’ll keep to myself what we were going to do.”
Both sides had already named their teams before the toss, with England recalling fast bowler Mark Wood after veteran seamer James Anderson retired from international duty with 704 Test wickets — a record for any pace bowler in the format — following the Lord’s Test.
But the West Indies, who had planned to be unchanged, were forced to make a late alteration when spinner Gudakesh Motie woke up with ‘flu on the morning of the game and dropped out.
It was a blow to the tourists, with Motie the only one of their batsmen to pass 30 at Lord’s, where he was also the West Indies’ most impressive bowler.
His place was taken by spin-bowling all-rounder Kevin Sinclair, who came in for his second career Test.
Sinclair made a fifty on his Test debut when the West Indies produced a stunning upset to beat Australia by eight runs in Brisbane in January.
Teams:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wkt), Kevin Sinclair, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
