BRIDGETOWN, April 2: West Indies' young quartet of fast bowlers led a strong fightback on day two of the third Test against England on Friday as the home side enjoyed one of their best sessions of the series.
Replying to a total of 224, England resumed on 20 for one, but lost Mark Butcher (5), captain Michael Vaughan (17) and Nasser Hussain (17) as they limped to 73 for four at lunch.
Graham Thorpe was unbeaten on 23 but Fidel Edwards was the main destroyer for West Indies, removing Butcher and Vaughan to add to the wicket of Marcus Trescothick from day one.
Trailing 2-0 in the four-match series and having lost their last seven wickets for 57 on the opening day, Edwards and Tino Best gave West Indies something to shout about.
Things began badly for West Indies when Best was denied the wicket of Vaughan for 12, Ramnaresh Sarwan spilling a simple chance at second slip. But the 22-year-old Edwards, who missed the second Test because of a side strain, got his first wicket of the day soon after when Butcher tried to cut a bouncing delivery only to edge it straight to Chris Gayle at first slip.
New batman Hussain was subjected to an onslaught from Edwards and Best, the former England captain fortunate to survive when a thick edge went through the vacant slip cordon.
As Hussain became bogged down, Vaughan was denied much of the strike and the captain's impatience got the better of him when he edged an attempted pull off Edwards to Ridley Jacobs, leaving England 33 for three.
Thorpe, England's top scorer in the second Test, again looked in good form, working the singles and punishing the rare bad ball, while Hussain again battled in dogged fashion. But just as the pair looked set to see England through to lunch, Hussain played round a straight ball from Corey Collymore and was bowled.
Andrew Flintoff was unbeaten on four at lunch. Flintoff had on Thursday clinched his first Test five-wicket haul as West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 57 runs.
Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit half-centuries but Flintoff took five for 58, including two wickets with the last two balls of the innings, to put England on course for their first series win in the Caribbean since 1968.
Strike bowler Steve Harmison, Man-of-the-Match in the first two Tests, took three for 42 from 18 overs.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES (1st Innings):
C.H. Gayle lbw b Hoggard 6
D. Ganga lbw b Harmison 11
B.C. Lara c Butcher b Flintoff 36
R.R. Sarwan c Thorpe b Flintoff 63
S. Chanderpaul c Thorpe b Flintoff 50
R.O. Hinds c Jones b Harmison 5
R.D. Jacobs c sub (C'wood) b Flintoff 6
T.L. Best c Butcher b Flintoff 17
P.T. Collins c Trescothick b Jones 7
C.D. Collymore not out 1
F.H. Edwards c Read b Flintoff 0
EXTRAS (LB-14, W-1, NB-7) 22
TOTAL (all out, 75.2 overs) 224
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-20, 3-88, 4-167, 5-179, 6-197, 7-198, 8-208, 9-224.
BOWLING: Hoggard 16-5-34-1; Harmison 18-6-42-3; Flintoff 16.2-2-58-5 (3nb); Jones 16-1-55-1 (1w); Giles 9-1-21-0.
ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 20-1):
M.E. Trescothick b Edwards 2
M.P. Vaughan c Jacobs b Edwards 17
M.A. Butcher c Gayle b Edwards 5
N. Hussain b Collymore 17
G.P. Thorpe not out 23
A. Flintoff not out 4
EXTRAS (W-1, NB-4) 5
TOTAL (for four wkts, 38 overs) 73
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-24, 3-33, 4-65.
TO BAT: C.M.W. Read, A.F. Giles, S.P. Jones, M.J. Hoggard, S.J. Harmison.
BOWLING (to-date): Edwards 12-4-25-3 (2nb); Collins 11-5-26-0 (1nb); Collymore 8-2-11-1 (1nb, 1w); Hinds 2-1-4-0; Best 5-3-7-0.-Reuters