The away side face a tough challenge to claim victory in this game - a winner-takes-all encounter for the Richards-Botham Trophy following two draws - after another dreadful performance with the bat. But it could have been much worse
Grenada (day one of five): England 204
England's batsmen reverted to type before Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood dug them out of a huge hole, as Grenada produced a pitch with zip and movement and the tourists' top order collapsed in familiar fashion.
The away side face a tough challenge to claim victory in this game - a winner-takes-all encounter for the Richards-Botham Trophy following two draws - after another dreadful performance with the bat.
But it could have been much worse, had it not been for Leach and Mahmood, who added 90 for the final wicket to frustrate West Indies.
Faced with a tricky playing surface - Spice Isle by name, spicy by nature - England capitulated, finding themselves at one stage 67 for 7.
West Indies, having opted to bowl first on a humid day on Grenada, executed their gameplans well and largely bowled with aggression and precision. And it simply proved too much for an England top seven of whom only one man, Alex Lees, scored more than 8.
Jack Leach goes on the attack on day one (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Zak Crawley negotiated 12 overs with Lees at the top of the innings before pushing far too hard at a scrambled-seam delivery, perhaps even a leg-cutter, from Kyle Mayers. Kraigg Brathwaite snaffled the chance at cover.
Mayers was the unlikely star of the morning, bowling five maidens and claiming two wickets. While his celebration for the dismissal of Crawley was understated, he could barely contain his emotions when he coaxed England captain Joe Root into nibbling outside his off stump, and providing a simple catch for Joshua da Silva.
Mayers, the 29-year-old Barbadian who only made his Test debut last year, has now claimed 15 red-ball scalps of his country. Three of those - Root, Babar Azam, and Dimuth Karunaratne - are currently ranked among the six best batsmen in the world by the ICC. That haul includes Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar, too. Not bad for a man who does not push the speed gun much over 80mph.
England without Root's runs are disproportionately poorer. And it showed here once more.
Dan Lawrence was lbw before lunch, a review spurned for a delivery which DRS showed was bound to strike leg stump just above the belt, and after the break the wheels did not so much fall off as disintegrate into thin air.
Saqib Mahmood made his best first-class score (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Ben Stokes, maybe frustrated by the lack of scoring opportunities, tried to swat Azarri Joseph into the leg side off the back foot and only managed to give the bowler an easy return chance; Lees, having managed runs from just three of his previous 50 deliveries (including a boundary apiece off both inside and outside edge), nicked off to Kemar Roach for 31; and Jonny Bairstow was drawn into a tentative prod at Joseph which fell nicely for Da Silva.
When Ben Foakes lost his stumps to Jayden Seales, England were teetering on the edge of extreme embarrassment, hours after Root had said how relieved he was that his team had not endured the sort of match-defining implosion that has plagued their recent past during this Caribbean trip.
That they kept the innings moving into a third session was thanks to a handful of elegant off drives from Chris Woakes, lusty edges from Craig Overton, and relentless obduracy from Jack Leach.
Even so, when Woakes (25) was out just after the restart and with the score on 114, it seemed inevitable that England were going to post a paltry total.
Leach and Mahmood had other ideas. Showing vigilance and patience early in their innings, and not being afraid to take on the odd errant ball as they felt more comfortable at the crease, the pair quickly became really quite prickly thorns in the West Indians' sides.
A Leach on drive, hit almost flamingo-style on one leg straight down the ground, and an almighty wallop from Mahmood - dancing down the wicket at Myers - were the picks of the evening session, as England's final stand proved to have as much staying power as the rest of the batting order combined.
Mahmood made his best first-class score, the total edged past 200 to a cheer from the pockets of travelling fans dotted around the National Stadium, and West Indian body language slumped. This was the first time numbers 10 and 11 had topscored in a Test innings since 1885.
Da Silva's growling cheer when Mahmood chopped the part-time off-spin onto his stumps for 49 in the last over of the day acted as a release valve for the considerable frustration of the home side. Yet, the hosts should still be encouraged.
The way England's two tailenders played against the second new ball, calm and observant on a pitch which seemed to get better as it dried during the day, suggests that West Indies will have the better of the conditions. And they remain ahead in the game.
But they are nowhere near as far ahead as they should have been. And for that, England only have two men to thank.
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