Veerasammy Permaul rattles through another over of tidy left-arm spin, with Alex Lees able to pick up a single of the fifth ball to keep the strike.

A chance for Jason Holder to swing a few back into him now.

Mark Burt: This pitch is already looking benign. The grounds man is obviously under orders to make the game last five days and given the weakness of both batting units, creating a road is the only way. Don’t blame them for wanting the money but it doesn’t make for exciting cricket.

Joe Root puts his hand forward and moves it to the right to indicate his batting partner at the non-striker's end that Jason Holder is getting a little bit of movement through the air away from the right-handed batter.

Holder, however, is a little too straight to Root who is able to defend before flicking him off his pads for two.

The final ball of the over and West Indies kitchen cabinet congregate for an urgent discussion as to whether Root got a bit of a bat on a delivery which struck his pad on the way through to the wicketkeeper.

Kraigg Brathwaite declines to review but the TV reviews seems to suggest there was maybe a bit of bat on it. A lucky escape for Root?

The pitch has already broken up a little, from the bowlers' footmarks, which has given Veerasammy Permaul something to target outside Alex Lees' off stump.

Not a huge amount of turn just yet but the left-arm tweaker has bowled well. His England counterpart Jack Leach will have been watching this little period with some degree of interest.

A bowling change for the West Indies imminent with Jason Holder limbering up.

Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent in Barbados

There's certainly more bounce and pace in the pitch than there was in Antigua. West Indies have bowled well, and not given the England top order much to hit.

Interesting to see that the West Indies bowled 15 overs in the first hour, having been fined for their slow over rate in Antigua.

Alzarri Joseph drops it in short but Joe Root picks up the length quickly and hooks one off his nose down to the square leg boundary. There's a fielder stationed down there, though, who cuts off the boundary.

Ian Bishop has just said on commentary he "can't remember" ever playing on a quick pitch at the Kensington Oval during his playing career which gives you a flavour of the way this deck might pan out over the next few days.

Carlos Brathwaite
West Indies all-rounder on BT Sport

The pitch looks a lot better. One ball to Joe Root was flashed over gully. The game is moving a lot quicker already than it did in the first Test.

Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul, who has a kind of rigid mechanical action, with a bit of drift with the breeze blowing across the Kensington Oval.

Joe Root goes on to the back foot and whips a slightly shorter one from Permaul off his legs and adds a single to the total from the penultimate ball of the over.

Alex Lees happy to defend the final delivery.

Tim Peach
BBC Sport in Barbados

A lot has been made of the lack of West Indies fans compared to travelling fans here. There aren’t many stands that aren’t covered in St George’s crosses.

Time for a bit of liquid refreshment after the first hour of play at the Kensington Oval.

Joe Root flicks Alzarri Joseph's first ball of his pads to get Alex Lees on strike.

The England opener, collar down with the top button undone, is watchful for the next five deliveries to Alzarri Joseph deciding when to defend and when to leave.

Sir Curtly Ambrose
Former West Indies bowler on BT Sport

West Indies spinner Veerasammy Permaul is hitting better areas so far. Not too short and not too wide. He's a better bowler than his figures showed in the first test.

Joe Root takes a leg-stump guard to Veerasammy Permaul, who went wicketless in the first Test in Antigua.

Permaul is in a good rhythm here and Root, perhaps wary of getting bogged down, goes for a flamboyant slog sweep off the final ball of the left-arm spinner's over to pick up one and keep the strike.

Alzarri Joseph drops it in short with his fourth ball against Joe Root who eases himself on to his heels and guides via a bottom edge for a single down to backward square. The ball did not quite get up on Root as he anticipated.

There was a little juice in the pitch early on but it seems to be flattening out now. Could be a good day for batting, could be a good day for Root...

Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent in Barbados

It's a surprise to see the spinner on this early - inside the first hour - when Holder hasn't even come on yet.

1-0 to Alex Lees, who survives Kemar Roach's opening spell as Kraigg Brathwaite turns to spin early.

Veerasammy Permaul has something of a containing role here, and starts with a maiden over.

Steve Tredup: I would just always have England bat second. Since they cannot bowl the opposition tail out, they will have an excuse to always being under scoring pressure and the batting order will not matter when they succumb to the scoreboard pressure.

Audible gasps from the crowd at the Kesington Oval as Joe Root flashes at a wider one from Alzarri Joseph.

Unlike that silky drive from Root a couple of overs ago this one goes over the slip cordon for four. Joseph can't quite believe it.

Runs for England nonetheless. "It's not how, it's how many" as a wise old sage (usually with an Aussie twang) would say.

Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent in Barbados

Root is looking in good touch here...