West Indies skipper Jason Holder led from the front with the ball as his seventh five-wicket haul and career best figures of 6-42, along with Shannon Gabriel’s 4-62 restricted England for 204 in their first innings. At the close of play West Indies were on 57-1 in reply.
When play resumed, opener Rory Burns (20 overnight) and Joe Denly (14) found the going tough as Gabriel bowled with plenty of pace and menace.
Gabriel didn’t take long to get going and produced a superb delivery, one that swung back through Denly’s defense to bowl him for 18. In his very next over, the burly fast bowler accounted for Burns, trapping him in front of leg stump to leave England on 51-3.
From thereon, Holder took over and had Zak Crawley LBW for an enterprising 10, he didn’t have to wait long for a second, as he had Ollie Pope edging behind for 12 with England looking wobbly at 87-5.
However stand-in England captain Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler brought a brief respite with a 67-run partnership.
Eventual top-scorer Stokes fell seven runs short of his half-century as Holder had him dismissed edging to wicket-keeper Shane Dowrich. The West Indies captain then made it two wickets in two overs as he sent Buttler back to the pavilion in similar fashion.
With England looking in danger of being bowled out for under 200 runs, Dom Bess hit a counter-attacking 31 not out but ran out of partners as Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both fell to the rampant Holder.
James Anderson provided some support to Bess, and the pair combined for a vital 30-run stand for the last wicket before Gabriel bowled Anderson with a full, straight ball as England were bowled out for 204 to signal an early tea.
The West Indies opening duo of Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell effected a steady start to the visitors’ reply after tea.
Campbell survived a couple of early scares, twice reviewing successfully before being given out leg-before to Anderson.
Mark Wood delivered a fierce spell of fast bowling to Brathwaite and new batsman Shai Hope, but they both were solid in defence and saw West Indies safely to the close of play, bad light for the second day in a row causing a premature end to the day’s play. West Indies will resume tomorrow on 57/1.
The 592 Dugout 