Wood, Ali give England upper hand for the first time in the series

After losing six wickets for 45 runs in a dramatic first session, England struck back late in the day through Mark Wood and Moeen Ali. England went to stumps at 19 for no loss, taking a commanding 142-run lead in the third Test match.

It was a day of collapses at Saint Lucia as for the first time in the Test series, England took an upper hand by bowling West Indies out for 154 on Day 2 of the third Test match on Sunday.

After losing six wickets for 45 runs in a dramatic first session, England struck back late in the day through Mark Wood and Moeen Ali. England went to stumps at 19 for no loss, taking a commanding 142-run lead in the third Test match.

Having already won the Test series 2-0, Windies started Day 2 on the right note by bowling England out for 277  and then putting up a fifty-plus opening stand to set the setting for an improbable whitewash. Perhaps that injected life into the battered English and they staged a remarkable turn around in the latter half of the day.

West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and  John Cambell looked in trouble whatsoever in front England new-ball bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, bringing up their fifty in the 16^th over. It was in the 19^th over that the game started to turn and not surprisingly, it was Moeen Ali with the first breakthrough. Campbell was holed out in the deep much against the run of play and in the very next delivery Moeen trapped captain Brathwaite for 12. The double strikes by Moeen Ali opened the floodgates and Mark Wood barged through the gate to run through the Windies middle order.

In the 22^nd over, Wood removed Shai Hope and Roston Chase off successive deliveries, beating both of them by his extra pace just enough movement to find the outside edges. All of sudden, West Indies had lost 4 wickets for 2 runs. And it was just beginning.

Wood struck twice on either side of the tea break to bring West Indies down to their knees. First, Shimron Hetmyer was done in by Wood’s pace and bounce and then Darren Bravo was set-up with a bouncer followed by sucker ball outside off stump. In a remarkable spell, Wood picked up four wickets for 13 runs in 4.2 overs.

Windies Shane Dowrich provided some resistance scoring a valiant 38 off 56 balls but Moeen Ali and Wood returned to polish off the tail.

Wood picked up his maiden five-wicket haul, claiming 5 for 41 in his 8.2 overs and Moeen Ali returned with 4 for 36.

Earlier, Kemar Roach stole the spotlight in scything through the middle and lower order to finish with figures of four for 48. He now has 17 wickets in series.