NORTH SOUND (Antigua): Gary Ballance and Ben Stokes put England in complete control as they reached lunch on 224 for four on the fourth day of the first Test against the West Indies here at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday.

The tourists lead by 328 runs with five sessions of play remaining in the match and are likely to look to extend their advantage to 400-plus before captain Alastair Cook declares.

England, resuming on their overnight 116 for three, lost the first wicket of the day when Joe Root was bowled for 59 having compiled his second half-century of the game.

Root trudged off the field shaking his head after playing a ball from lanky paceman Jason Holder on to his stumps with the total on 166.

He and Ballance shared a partnership of 114 for the fourth wicket but the left-hander then found another valuable ally in Ben Stokes.

With Ballance simply content to nudge and nurdle the total along, fellow left-hander Stokes took over the dominant role as he powered his way to 33 not out in an unbeaten half-century stand.

Ballance was unbeaten on 92 at lunch, approaching his fourth Test hundred.

On Wednesday, England’s top order tumbled cheaply again but the tourists still worked themselves into a commanding position at 116 for three in their second innings, an overall lead of 220, by stumps on the third day.

Jermaine Blackwood’s maiden Test hundred lifted the home side to 295 in their first innings with James Tredwell’s off-spin bringing him the excellent figures of four for 47 off 26 overs and ensuring his side earned a significant first- innings lead.

Left with the final session to build on an advantage of 104 runs, openers Jonathan Trott and captain Alastair Cook were prised out in double-quick time by Jerome Taylor.

First innings centurion Ian Bell was then run out but at 52 for three, Joe Root (32 not out) joined Gary Ballance (44 not out) in resisting the early threat and then profitiede against bowlers who quickly ran out of discipline and inspiration.

Defending a first innings total of 399, English perseverance in the field on another sweltering day’s play eventually paid off.

In the morning, Tredwell made the important breakthrough by removing Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 46 before adding the wickets of Jason Holder and Kemar Roach as the West Indies lower order failed to show any meaningful resistance, the last four wickets subsiding for 19 runs.

Blackwood’s unbeaten 112 was compiled in a stay of almost six hours at the crease, highly unusual for a batsman noted for quickfire, stroke-filled innings.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Inning)399

WEST INDIES (1st Innings)295

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 116-3):

A. Cook c Benn b Taylor13 J. Trott c Ramdin b Taylor4 G. Ballance not out92 I. Bell run out11 J. Root b Holder59 B. Stokes not out33

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-5, NB-2)12

TOTAL (for four wkts, 67 overs) 224

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-20, 3-52, 4-166.

TO BAT: Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Stuart Broad, James Tredwell, James Anderson.

BOWLING: Taylor 14-5-42-2; Roach 13-1-47-0 (1nb); Holder 13-5-39-1 (1nb, 1w); Benn 17-2-65-0; Samuels 10-0-26-0.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2015

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