Ollie Pope rode his luck in an unbeaten 115 to lead England to 4-259 at tea on the first day of the second test against West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
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Dropped on 46 and 54, Pope compiled his sixth Test century as the hosts built on Ben Duckett's sparkling 71 in the morning to move into a strong position.
Put into bat, England lost Zak Crawley to the third ball of the match, caught at slip by Alick Athanaze off Alzarri Joseph, but Duckett hit four boundaries in a row to get started and sped to his fifty off 32 balls.
The left-hander looked well on course for his fourth Test century until he pushed at a full ball from Shamar Joseph and nicked a low catch to Jason Holder at second slip.
Pope, dropped by Athanaze at gully just before lunch, should also have been caught by Holder after the interval but Joe Root, on 14, top-edged an attempted pull off Jayden Seales and skied a catch to Alzarri Joseph.
Harry Brook moved briskly to 36, including a six over backward point, before he edged a paddle sweep off spinner Kevin Sinclair to Kirk McKenzie at short leg and the bowler celebrated with a backward somersault.
Pope grew in confidence and moved to his hundred with a crisp four through square leg before removing his helmet and raising his bat to the crowd.
Captain Ben Stokes was 15 not out at the interval.
England made one change from the side that won the opening test by an innings at Lord's, pace bowler Mark Wood coming in for the now-retired James Anderson.
West Indies were forced into one alteration with Sinclair replacing left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie due to illness.
Australian Associated Press
