England close in on innings victory

England close in on innings victory

If this was a boxing match, this game would have been called off by now. England continued to land punch after punch upon the hapless Windies, who continued to put forward their best impression of a punching bag. The hosts polished off the two remaining first-innings wickets after Lunch, enforced the follow-on and proceeded to take four more in the visitors' second dig. Windies still trail by 270 runs and with a night session under lights to follow, the end looks nigh.

Jermaine Blackwood, who offered some semblance of a fight in the first innings with an undefeated 79, will be tasked with taking the match to a fourth day but England, who have taken seven and six wickets in the first two sessions, will fancy their chances of giving themselves another rest day with one more strong performance.

Windies, eight down in their first innings at the start of the session, weren't exactly blown away with Blackwood showing spunk in walking down the pitch to loft Stuart Broad for a six. Alzarri Joseph defied the Broad-Anderson combine for a while before missing a straight delivery from Broad and was out LBW. Blackwood, looking to add as many as possible, then called Miguel Cummins for a non-existent single at the end of an over, and saw his partner get run-out by an accurate Tom Westley throw. Windies were bowled out for 168 and Root had no qualms in keeping his visitors in.

According to the books, this was the second innings but the procession continued. Kieran Powell played at one too many deliveries outside off-stump and eventually nicked one Anderson delivery. Kraigg Brathwaite had a better start, aided by a couple of french cuts to fine leg, but settled in nicely with a couple of punchy drives. But Windies continued to struggle to string any partnership of significance.

Kyle Hope missed a straight delivery from Toby Roland-Jones and was out LBW while Ben Stokes accounted for Shai Hope in a hostile spell of bowling in which he conceded nine runs from nine overs. Unseen to the others, Brathwaite quietly moved into the forties but missed a ripping off-break from Moeen Ali to be dismissed at the stroke of Tea.

A similar collapse story panned out earlier in the day for the visitors. James Anderson picked up two wickets and effected a run-out in his first four-over spell on the day, setting an early precedent for things to come. Blackwood fought on from end, scoring at over a run-a-ball even as others fell by the wayside. Only a question of when from here on.

Brief scores: England 514/8 decl. (Alastair Cook 243, Joe Root 136; Roston Chase 4-113) lead Windies 168 (Jermaine Blackwood 79*; James Anderson 3-23) & 76/4 (f/o) (Kraigg Brathwaite 40; Ben Stokes 1-9) by 270 runs.