West Indies squander advantage on day one

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

A historic last-wicket stand between Saqib Mahmood and Jack Leach utterly deflated West Indies, eroding their momentum and offering England a way back on the opening day of the decisive third Test on Thursday.

On the ropes at 114 for nine when 20-year-old Jayden Seales shattered Chris Woakes' stumps for 25 with the second ball after tea, England mustered a sterling response in the last session through Saqib and Leach as the pair put on a precious 90 to get the visitors to 204 all out.

Number 11 Saqib, who made his Test debut in the Barbados second Test last week, made a career-best 49 off 118 balls in nearly two and a half hours and struck four fours and a six.

Leach, in at 10, struck an unbeaten 41 in an innings spanning 141 deliveries and a shade over three and a quarter hours, and which included five fours.

Notably, it was the first time number 10 and 11 had top-scored in a Test innings in 127 years.

Saqib missed out on a half-century when he chopped on to a long hop from part-time off-spinner Jermaine Blackwood in the day's final over.

"It definitely was a bit frustrating. We were expecting to get the English guys out way before 200 - we were looking at probably 150 the most but we let them off the hook," Seales said afterwards.

"The pitch has a lot in it for the bowlers once you keep the ball on the fuller side.

"With that being said, once the ball gets a lot older and softer it's a bit difficult to get wickets so you have to remain patient and work out plans to get the batsmen."

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND 1st Innings

A Lees c wkp Da Silva b Roach 31

Z Crawley c Brathwaite b Mayers 7

*J Root c wkp Da Silva b Mayers 0

D Lawrence lbw b Seales 8

B Stokes c & b Joseph 2

J Bairstow c wkp Da Silva b Joseph 0

+B Foakes b Seales 7

C Woakes b Seales 25

C Overton b Roach 14

J Leach not out 41

S Mahmood b Blackwood 49

Extras (b18, lb2) 20

TOTAL (all over, 89.4 overs) 204

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Crawley), 2-29 (Root), 3-46 (Lawrence), 4-53 (Stokes), 5-53 (Lees), 6-53 (Bairstow), 7-67 (Foakes), 8-90 (Overton), 9-114 (Woakes), 10-204 (Saqib)

Bowling: Roach 18-4-41-2, Seales 17-4-40-3, Holder 15-6-34-0, Mayers 10-7-13-2, Joseph 18-6-33-2, Bonner 5-1-10-0, Blackwood 1.4-1-4-1, Brathwaite 5-2-9-0.

WEST INDIES - *K Brathwaite, J Campbell, S Brooks, N Bonner, J Blackwood, K Mayers, J Holder, J Da Silva, A Joseph, K Roach, J Seales.

Toss: West Indies.

Umpires: G Brathwaite, J Wilson; TV - L Reifer.