The surrender on Grenada: England on brink of another series defeat after abject day three

The hosts will complete a simple win on Sunday, condemning England to a fifth series defeat in a row and casting huge doubt on the viability of Joe Root's captaincy

Grenada (day three of five): England 204 & 103-8, West Indies 297 - England lead by 10 runs with two second-innings wickets remaining

Scorecard

England wrote another wretched chapter into their miserable winter story as a second-innings collapse handed the third Test and the Richards-Botham series to West Indies.

The tourists were defied with the bat by Joshua da Silva and then collapsed against the West Indian bowling attack, ending day three with a lead of 10 but with just two wickets remaining.

It means the hosts will complete a simple win on Sunday, condemning England to a fifth series defeat in a row and casting huge doubt on the viability of Joe Root's captaincy.

England began the day hoping to quickly knock over the two remaining West Indies wickets and quickly eat into the marginal deficit, which stood at 28 overnight.

^{Kyle Mayers was the star with the ball for West Indies} 

Instead, they found themselves in the field for two and a half hours.

While Kemar Roach did not last all that long - caught down the legside by Ben Foakes off the bowling of Saqib Mahmood - Da Silva found a willing partner in No.11 Jayden Seales.

The seamer, with a first-class average of a little more than 3 going into the game, lasted 59 balls and nearly two hours to frustrate England and give West Indies a commanding lead.

While Seales largely held up an end, Da Silva squeezed runs from wherever he could find them.

The wicketkeeper, playing the ball late and under his eyes, was watchful, rarely pushing hard off the front foot. 

There were scares - an lbw decision against him was reversed after a visit to the DRS - but largely Da Silva's resolve blunted England’s effectiveness and imagination.

When the Trinidadian reached his maiden Test ton with a cross-batted thwack down the ground for four, baseball-style, he threw his hands to the sky, punched the air and fell into a hunch. This was nearly six hours at the crease, in hot and humid conditions, on a playing surface which asked questions of the batsmen regularly, and often changed its mode of interrogation. 

^{Joshua da Silva made his maiden Test hundred}

He left the field unbeaten - after a curious episode when he was given out on the field for an inside edge to Craig Overton, only for a cursory review to reveal there was no nick - on an even 100.

It was a knock that will define this match.

By the end of day three, Da Silva remained the only man to make more than 49 in the Test, as England imploded in their second innings.

Zak Crawley pushed his hands far too hard through a ball far too wide and edged Seales through to Jason Holder at second slip, Joe Root was dismissed by Kyle Mayers' right-arm medium for the second time in the match, Dan Lawrence was bowled by Mayers leaving the ball, and Ben Stokes was caught behind - again off Mayers, again attempting to leave.

It was a desperate toppling of dominoes. 

Alex Lees knuckled down and did at least display some willingness to play the conditions, but the debacle at the other end continued in the final session.

Jonny Bairstown, having spent more than 100 minutes playing responsibly and well within himself, reacted to Alzarri Joseph coming around the wicket by reverting to white-ball type, his ugly heave generating only an under-edge through to Da Silva.

^{Ben Foakes is run out}

Minutes later, Foakes was run out attempting a mad second run to Mayers at deep square leg, an absurd moment which left Root shaking his head in his hands on the dressing-room balcony. 

And the wickets kept falling.

Lees, who faced more deliveries than the rest of the top seven combined, was bowled by a grubber from Mayers, and the Barbadian allrounder soon completed a miserly five-for when Craig Overton played the sort of expansive back-foot drive early in his innings which you might expect if England's total had been two or three hundred runs higher.

Chris Woakes and Jack Leach were England's two batsmen unbeaten at the close. Their country requires something quite extraordinary from them on Sunday.

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