Patience pays off for Sibley, the opening batsman with a perfect style for radio | Andy Bull

England opener, who scored 120 off 312 balls, is not elegant or thrilling, but there’s an awful lot to admire in the way he playsThe sun shone, the clouds came and went again, the grass grew, and Dom Sibley batted. Mayflies hatched, thrived, mated, died, and some distant nebula grew into a red giant, turned supernova and collapsed into a black hole, and still, Dom Sibley batted. And batted. And batted. And it was utterly glorious. Not to watch, necessarily, Sibley’s got a good game for the radio. He’s someone whose progress you might best follow by looking at the scorecards in the foreign edition of a paper you picked up a day late on holiday some place where you can’t get the internet. But, yes, glorious for the team’s cause, and for England’s supporters.Supporters who had grown so frustrated and bored with the way England played during the spendthrift years, when their top-order squandered their wickets like sailors on leave do their wages. In this one innings, Sibley faced more deliveries than five of his recent predecessors did in their entire careers as opening batsmen. If you add up all the balls Jason Roy faced in the seven Test innings he played against Australia and Ireland last summer, and then double them, you still don’t get close to Sibley’s total here. He faced 372 altogether. His hundred came off 312 and was spread over four sessions. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/17/patience-pays-off-for-sibley-the-opening-batsman-with-a-perfect-style-for-radio #england_v_west_indies_2020 #england_cricket_team #west_indies_cricket_team #cricket #sport