The China Mail - Root and Stokes repel West Indies after England collapse in third Test

England were 157-5 at lunch on the second day, still 125 runs behind the West Indies' first-innings 282.

Root was 58 not out, having leapfrogged Brian Lara into seventh place in the list of Test cricket's leading batsmen by surpassing the West Indies great's tally of 11,953 runs.

England captain Stokes was unbeaten on 48, with his side having already won this three-match series with victories in the first two Tests.

England resumed already in trouble on 38-3, after a flurry of wickets went down late Friday, with the West Indies indebted to Jason Holder (59) and Joshua Da Silva (49) for a stand of 109 following a collapse to 115-5.

Ollie Pope (six not out) and Root (two not out), who both made hundreds in England's 241 run-win in the second Test at Trent Bridge, were at the crease.

But Root could have been out for three when struck on the pad by Jayden Seales, with the West Indies opting against reviewing a not out lbw decision from Indian umpire Nitin Menon, although replays indicated the ball would have hit leg stump.

West Indies, however, made an early breakthrough when Pope, who had added just four runs to his overnight total, flat-footedly played on to Shamar Joseph with an angled bat.

And 51-4 became 54-5 when Harry Brook, fresh from a hundred and a stand of 189 with Root at Trent Bridge, fell for just two when he edged a loose drive off Seales straight to wicketkeeper Da Silva.

When Root clipped Seales off his pads for a single to go 14, it took him past Lara's career tally of Test runs.

Stokes, meanwhile, square-cut Alzarri Joseph for four before the left-handed batsman drove Shamar Joseph down the ground for another resounding boundary.

And when Holder tried to cramp Stokes for room by bowling around the wicket, the England skipper advanced down the pitch to thrash his opposing all-rounder through the covers for a bold four.

Root completed a 68-ball fifty in more sedate fashion with a single off the towering Holder.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite had previously brought left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie into an otherwise all right-arm pace attack.

Motie had missed the second Test through illness after bowling well in West Indies' innings and 114-run defeat in the opener at Lord's.

But Motie was unable to breakthrough Saturday, with Stokes slog-sweeping him for six.

Before Saturday's play, the teams lined up on the outfield for a minute's applause honouring Bob Willis as Edgbaston, where he played for Warwickshire, turned 'Blue for Bob' in support of the charity set up after the England fast-bowling great's death from prostate cancer in 2019.

J.Liv--ThChM