England picked up three quick West Indies wickets late in the morning session on day two of the deciding test in Grenada on Friday after initially wasting the new ball.
West Indies were 71 for three at lunch, in reply to England’s first innings score of 204.
Ben Stokes, Craig Overton and Saqib Mahmood took a wicket each as England sent Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks and John Campbell back to the pavilion respectively in short order.
Brathwaite (17) and Brooks (13) were both plum lbw to balls that kept low, neither even bothering to review, while Campbell was well caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for 35.
Overton had previously struck Campbell in the helmet twice with successive balls, dismissing him shortly afterwards.
Earlier, Chris Woakes and Overton wasted the new ball by bowling too wide, allowing the ever-stoic Brathwaite and the more attacking Campbell to leave the ball alone with monotonous regularity.
Brathwaite, who made a painstakingly slow but effective 160 in the second test, took 14 balls to get off the mark.
England captain Joe Root replaced Woakes after only three overs, while Overton lasted five in his first spell.
It was hardly a surprise that Stokes got the first breakthrough by quickly finding a good line and length to send Brathwaite packing after a 50-run opening partnership.
It must have been a delightful sight to see the back of the West Indies captain, who batted for nearly 12 hours in the first innings of the second test, and was unbeaten on 56 in the second innings.
Buoyed by Brathwaite’s departure, England turned the screw and went into lunch with the test finely balanced on a pitch that was showing signs of uneven bounce.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Toby Davis)
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