Second Test, Barbados (day three): |
England 507-9 dec: Root 153, Stokes 120, Lawrence 91; Permaul 3-126 |
West Indies 288-4: Brathwaite 109*, Blackwood 102 |
West Indies trail by 219 runs |
Scorecard |
The second Test in Barbados was won by the West Indies on the third day.
The hosts ground their way to 284-7 at the close, trailing by 219 runs.
The partnership was broken by Dan Lawrence, who was out for five with five overs to go.
England struggled to create opportunities and the tourists wasted a lot of chances after they got two early wickets.
If England had reviewed an LBW decision and Saqib Mahmood had dismissed him for 65, he would have been out for a duck. There was a missed stumping chance when Brathwaite was on.
With two days to play, a second consecutive draw is the most likely result.
England had a chance to win the Test when Nkrumah Bonner was out for nine and Shamarh Brooks was out for 39.
The inexperienced England attack looked tame.
There is a caveat to the pitch that has offered little to pace bowlers. England only managed to take three of the four available jobs.
As the day wore on, good balls were hard to come by and those that were easy to cut for four were plentiful.
The pitch is offering a slow turn but it is difficult to land balls in difficult areas.
On the day Mark Wood was ruled out of the series with an injury,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The senior seamer in England was anonymous.
Things might have been different if England had reviewed the hit Ben Stokes made on Blackwood. The ball would have missed the stump if it hadn't been for the technology that suggested it would hit it.
The partnership was worth more than 100 when Mahmood took the number five. It was a perfect yorker from the Lancashire seamer but he overstepped by a couple of inches and celebrations were cut short.
It took Lawrence's unconventional spin to prise out a West Indies centurion, the 24 year old backing his dismissal of Bonner in the first Test.
West Indies have always been playing for a draw since England declared on 507-9.
They still have more work to do on day four, but the six-hour stand between Brathwaite and Blackwood has set them well on their way to a result that will see both teams head to Grenada for the third Test.
Brathwaite scored his fastest Test fifty in the opener but reverted to type here. He reached three figures from 278 balls after scoring his lowest Test half-century.
Someone who loves batting against England is Blackwood. He has an average of 45.77 against them, compared to 30.66 across his career, and two of his three Test tons have come against England.
He was quicker to bat than Brathwaite. The umpires had a stern word with the England all-rounder and captain Root after they had a heated exchange with him.
He thought the ball would hit the middle stump but the technology showed it would hit three quarters of the way up.
A long, hard day of Test cricket. We did a lot of good things today. A lot of opportunities were created by us. We made some mistakes and were a little unlucky. We are doing well in this game.
The West Indies batter is very pleased. I was feeling the pressure coming in. I thought his decision on nought was going to go down.
There was a bit of banter between them. That made me feel more motivated to hit the ball. It was enjoyable. We need to bat as long as possible tomorrow.
Jonathan Agnew is a cricket correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was not easy out there, and that was an excellent partnership between Blackwood and Brathwaite that was clearly frustrated England, who will have wanted more than just three wickets throughout the day.