Kyle Mayers (5-9) claims an impressive five by the time England crumbles to 103-8 in his second inning, leading by just 10 runs per stump on day three; Joshua Da Silva earlier scores a maiden test hundred as the West Indies add 65 to his score overnight
West Indies’ Jayden Seals celebrates taking the wicket of England’s Zak Crawley
England face a series loss in the West Indies as yet another batting collapse saw them close the third day of the third Test in Grenada at 103-8, holding just a slim 10-run lead.
Kyle Mayers (5-9), who triggered England’s collapse in the opening innings with the wickets of Zak Crawley and Joe Root for a duck, again claimed the tour captain on his way to an astonishing five for.
England first stumbled to 39-4 in their second inning, still some 54 runs behind, and then, after a brief resurgence led by Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow, fell to 101-8 by day’s end.
England’s hopes now rest on the possibility of another heroic effort from the tail after Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood in the last wicket of 90 runs in the early innings, while the West Indies are confident of finishing a convincing quickly and well. he deserved to win early on the fourth day.
Earlier in a miserable morning session for the tourists, Joshua Da Silva scored a first Test hundred to give the West Indies a 93-run lead in the first innings as the hosts added 65 to their overnight score of 232-8.
Tourists will still have hoped to press on with their own victory claims until the third morning, but as has been a theme throughout this Test, the last few poles proved desperately difficult to dislodge.
Kemar Roach (25) fell to Saqib Mahmood (2-45) in the fifth over of the day to end his 68-run standing by ninth wicket with Da Silva, but the West Indies wicketkeeper, stuck at 65, was not out. at that time – found another willing partner in Jayden Seals (13) to let her pass a ton of maiden proof.
England could and should have closed out the innings without the addition of another run had they not burned all three of their reviews on day two. A Mahmood lbw appeal against the Seals’ third ball did not go on the field, but replays showed it would have been overruled at DRS.
Da Silva and Seales made the most of the reprieve, slowly increasing the West Indies’ lead towards 100 with a 52-run partnership until the former reached triple figures with a limit hammered into the ground.
It seemed Da Silva’s innings ended immediately after his 100th moment when he apparently took the next ball away from Craig Overton. The batsman used a chip review, but even he assumed DRS would uphold the decision, only for an advantage to go undetected and he was called back in a rare passage of the game.
An increasingly desperate England finally finished the innings just four balls later, leaving the captain to bag a Seales catch and bowl.
Root was then required with the bat as early as the fourth over when Crawley (8) went down to another loose ball off Seales, closing in on the second slip. From then on, it was Mayers’ spectacle, as he again hooked the England captain, he bowled Dan Lawrence for a duck when he wasn’t playing shot and caught Ben Stokes (4) before tea.
Lees (31) and Bairstow (22) briefly raised England’s hopes with a 41-run partnership for the fifth wicket toss, as has been the case throughout the Test, seemingly starting to die down as the day wore on. But, with the latter’s decline, England’s weak batting line-up dwindled again.
Bairstow, beginning to feel more comfortable in the crease and looking to counter as England ate into the West Indies lead, attempted an overshot as he cut Alzarri Joseph as he looked to draw one that held him down.
It was the first of four wickets to go down by 20 runs in the space of seven overs as the home team briefly threatened to end things that night. Ben Foakes (2) ran out five balls later as he returned for a second risky run, Mayers was back in action with a deep snap.
Mayers then ended Lees’ 132-ball holdout, pitching the opener with one that stayed low, before securing his five by the time Overton hit the third slide. It leaves Mayers, who did not feature in either of the first two Tests of the series, with an astounding match tally of 7-22 from 23 overs.
West Indies and England will resume the third Test at 2pm UK time on Sunday. Follow the text commentary one after another from 1:45pm on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
