Last update: 26/03/22 23:19
Jayden Seales from the West Indies celebrates the conquest of the wicket of the Englishman Zak Crawley
England are staring at the consecutive defeat in the West Indies, as another collapse of the battle led them to close the third day of the third test in Grenada with 103-8, with only a slim advantage of 10 series.
Kyle Mayers (5-9), who sparked England’s collapse in the first innings with Zak Crawley and Joe Root’s wickets for a duck, reclaimed the tour leader on his way to a stunning five-pointer.
England initially tripped at 39-4 in their second inning – still around 54 consecutive delays – and then after a brief revival of Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow, fell to 101-8 late in the day.
Kyle Mayers celebrates one of five wicket seconds and leaves him with match numbers 7-22
England’s hopes are now based on the possibility of another heroic effort from the tail that will follow Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood in the 90 runs in the last wicket in the first inning, while the West Indies will be sure to complete a convincing and good deserved the victory early on the fourth day.
Da Silva celebrates the virgin test century
Earlier, in a miserable morning session for tourists, Joshua Da Silva scored a maiden test of hundreds to gain a 93-point lead in the West Indies as the hosts added 65 to their 232-8 overnight score.
Joshua da Silva celebrates after reaching the virginity of the Test century
Tourists would still be hoping to advance their own claims to victory by the third morning, but as was the case throughout this test, the last few wickets have proved desperately difficult to get rid of.
Kemar Roach (25) fell to Saqib Mahmood (2-45) in the fifth over of the day to finish the 68-run stand for the ninth wicket with Da Silva, but the West Indies wicketkeeper – stuck at 65 without coming out at that moment – she found another willing partner in Jayden Seales (13) to allow him to go through a virgin test tone.
England could and should have completed the innings without adding another streak, if it had not exceeded its three reviews on the second day. Mahmood’s call for a lbw against Seales’s third ball was not given on the pitch, but the replay showed that he would have been knocked down by the DRS.
Da Silva and Siles made the most of the break, increasing the West Indies’ lead to 100 with a combined 52-lane route, until the former reached three figures himself with a forged back to the ground.
Da Silva gets DRS suspension after a strange pass
It seemed that Da Silva’s appearances ended immediately after his hundredth minute, as he apparently spoiled the next ball from Craig Overton back. The beat used a symbolic revision, but even he assumed that the DRS would support the decision, just to not detect any extremes and be called back to a strange passage in the game. An increasingly desperate England eventually completed the innings just four balls later, leaving the captain with a bag to catch Seales and bowling.
Mayers tears up, sorry, top order
It then took root with the bat from the fourth over as Crawley (8) fell into another loose car from Seales, reaching the second slip. Then there was the Mayers show as he grabbed the English captain again, bowed to Dan Lawrence for a duck when he was not shooting and had Ben Stokes (4) grabbed back before tea.
Ben Stokes runs for four as England suffer another top-down collapse
Lees (31) and Bairstow (22) briefly boosted England’s hopes with a 41-day partnership for the fifth wicket with the pitch, as was the case throughout the Test, apparently starting to fade as the day approached. But with the fall of the latter, England’s weak line-up fell again.
Bairstow, who began to feel more comfortable in the crunch and trying to counter as England ate to the advantage of the West Indies, attempted a shot as he left Alzarri Joseph as he tried to pull one that kept him low.
It was the first of four wickets to fall for 20 runs over seven overs, as the hosts threatened to end things that night. Ben Foakes (2) lost five balls later when he returned for a risky second series, Mayers was back in action with a place from deep.
Mayers then ended Lees’s resistance at 132 balls, bowling with one that held low, before scoring his five as Overton made the third slip. It leaves Mayers, who did not take part in any of the first two Tests of the series, with amazing match numbers 7-22 from 23 overs.
The West Indies and England will resume the third test at 2 p.m. UK time on Sunday. Follow the text comments from 13:45 on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
