Joshua Da Silva scored an excellent hundred and Kyle Mayers took a five-wicket haul to place West Indies on the point of a shocking victory over England at stumps on day three of the deciding Test in Grenada on Saturday.
Da Silva’s first-ever hundred in Test cricket helped West Indies rack up 297 within the first innings, with the wicketkeeper farming the strike all through the morning session earlier than reaching his ton simply earlier than lunch.
England have been solely 10 runs forward with two wickets in hand of their second innings, on 103 for eight on the shut.
The 23-year-old wiped away tears as he celebrated his debut century with teammate and buddy Jayden Seales out within the center, and his excellent rearguard effort helped give his crew a 93-run first-innings lead.
Extraordinary second-innings figures from Kyle Mayers.
What a range by the West Indies! #WTC23 | #WIvENG | https://t.co/8vvmZqjdsh pic.twitter.com/jjlLaEz5cf
— ICC (@ICC) March 26, 2022
And Mayers was the architect of a shocking bowling effort from the house aspect as England collapsed to 103/8, leaving them on the point of one other collection defeat.
Mayers completed the day with figures of 5/9, his victims together with England captain Joe Root. Mayers additionally took 2/13 within the first innings, giving him general match figures of seven/22.
West Indies had resumed with a lead of 28 on the third morning, and England’s possibilities of wrapping the innings up shortly regarded good when Mahmood had Kemar Roach caught down the legside off a brief ball, with Roach failing so as to add to his in a single day rating of 25.
But lower-order runs have been the theme of this Grenada Test, and similar to in England’s first innings the partnerships for wickets 9 and ten ended up yielding essentially the most runs for West Indies.
Jayden Seales was the limpet that England simply couldn’t budge, with the quantity eleven digging in as Da Silva regarded to take advantage of the strike.
And collectively the pair added 52 runs for the ultimate wicket as England’s struggling assault toiled all through the morning session.
The remaining runs of the morning and because it turned out the ultimate runs of the innings, got here from a punch down the bottom by Da Silva to the long-on boundary. It was the very shot that introduced up the wicketkeeper’s hundred, and the celebrations began with the ball barely midway to the boundary.
An emotional Da Silva broke down in tears as he celebrated the milestone, his first ton in his 14th Test look for the West Indies.
There was to be an extra speaking level from an prolonged morning session, with Da Silva strolling off for a nick behind off the very subsequent supply after he had reached his century, reviewing nearly as an afterthought.
But replays confirmed that the ball had struck the thigh-pad moderately than inside-edge, prompting the weird sight of each batters and all the fielding crew returning to the sector of play when the choice was overturned by DRS.
The innings and first session did come to an in depth within the subsequent over when Seales chipped again to Joe Root for a 59-ball 13, with a still-moist-eyed Da Silva ending unbeaten on 100*.
Da Silva’s brilliance meant that the final 4 West Indies wickets had contributed 202 runs to the full of 297, placing the hosts into an advantageous place within the match having regarded susceptible at 95/6.
Trailing by 93 runs, England set about their second innings after lunch. But any ideas of overhauling the deficit and constructing a probably match-winning rating shortly evaporated, with Zak Crawley edging behind off an tried booming drive within the fourth over.
And Mayers, as he had performed within the first England innings, ripped via the top-order.
The all-rounder first picked up the essential wicket of Root for an additional single-figure rating (5), and the scalps of Dan Lawrence (0) and Ben Stokes (4) quickly adopted.
Mayers had returned first-spell figures of two wickets for zero runs from 5 overs within the first innings, and his second-innings effort was scarcely much less spectacular, with the 29-year-old entering into on the tea interval having taken three for seven from seven overs to tear the guts out of the England batting line-up.
England have been reeling at 43/4 on the break, nonetheless trailing by 50 runs.
An stubborn 148-ball partnership between opener Alex Lees and Jonny Bairstow threatened to take the sting out of the day as England regarded to rebuild within the night session.
But when Bairstow edged behind to Alzarri Joseph for 22 it sparked one other mini-collapse.
Ben Foakes, simply 4 balls into his knock, took on the arm of Mayers on the boundary and got here off second finest, run-out nicely in need of his floor as he tried a second run.
And Lees’ prolonged effort got here to an finish when the majestic Mayers struck once more, cleansing him up for 31, with Root seen along with his head in fingers on the England balcony as one other collection defeat drew nearer.
Mayers accomplished his five-for when he tempted Craig Overton right into a rash shot outdoors off, edging straight to Jason Holder.