| Third Test, St George's, Grenada (day one): |
| England 204 Mahmood 49, Leach 41*; Seales 3-40, Mayers 2-13 |
| West Indies Yet to bat |
| Scorecard |
The England top order collapsed on the first day of the decisive third Test against the West Indies, but Jack and Saqib were the unlikely heroes.
After being asked to bat first on a lively pitch, England crumbled to 114-9 before a crucial last-wicket partnership of 90 in Grenada.
In the final over of the day, Mahmood was dismissed for 49, his highest score in professional cricket, but not before he and Leach had dragged England to 204.
England were on the verge of being dismissed below 100 when they fell from 23-0 to 90-8 earlier in the day.
England were unable to deal with the movement of the West Indies pace attack after lunch, as three of their seamers fell for no runs.
As the ball softened and the pitch became flatter, Leach and Mahmood added valuable runs, including one fine Mahmood six.
The opening day of the first series in the Caribbean since 2004 was not all over for England, as they ensured that their bid to earn a first series win in the Caribbean since 2004 was not all but over.
Number 10 and Number 11 have not scored in a men's test in over a century. Their effort was extraordinary.
Six of the top seven made single-figure scores when Mahmood and Leach came together, and the highest partnership in the entire game was the ninth-wicket stand of 24 between Leach and Chris Woakes, who made an important 25 before becoming the third batter to be clean bowled.
Batting became much easier as the seam movement lessened, but that should not affect the performance of the two.
At first it was all about survival, but as the partnership grew so did the attacking intent.
The seamers were driven down the ground by Leach, who was playing his second Test, and by Mahmood, who was playing his second Test.
With four balls to go, Mahmood hit the boundary. His previous professional best score was 45.
A ball later, with a maiden top-level fifty a run away, Mahmood tried to work the off-spinner into the leg side for a single but played on to his stumps.
He left the field with his teammates on their feet, applauding from the balcony.
England has shown positive signs in two draws in the Tests played on flat tracks.
The fact that England's batters failed at the first sign of seam movement is concerning.
In the first session of the day, Dan Lawrence was trapped in front by the impressive seamer, after he hit a loose drive to extra cover for seven, and Joe Root nicked behind.
In his first five-over spell, the all-rounder took two no runs in his seam-bowling, justifying his selection over Veerasammy Permaul.
England played and missed throughout the first two hours and could easily have been in worse shape.
After lunch, the tourists slumped further when Alex Lees fell in the same fashion as Bairstow, and Ben Stokes miscued a pull back to bowler Alzarri Joseph for two.
The score was 53 and all three of them fell. Number two to seven in England's batting line-up had all been dismissed for single-figure scores for the first time since 1951 when Foakes was dismissed by Seales.
The start of England's red-ball reset is being billed by this series. The period before the stand was familiar. It was not terminal for their hopes.
I looked at the score when I was on 12 and thought I had an average here. There were times when we were thinking of 20 and 30-run partnerships.
Some of the balls the batters got were very difficult to hit. The ball that Ben Foakes got swung away and nipped back, and as a bowler you are not keeping those out as a batter. Both teams wanted to bowl first and that tells you a lot about the pitch.
This has been a lesson for England about how soft the ball is once it is old. The West Indies used the new ball in the morning. This is the sort of pitch that Stuart Broad and James Anderson would have been a handful on, but it is up to their replacements to do it.
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