I was delighted to dig in for the team Graham Thorpe More Thorpe quotes Day two photo gallery

Graham Thorpe kept England in the hunt with a heroic century on day two of the third Test against West Indies.

The visitors gained an unexpected first-innings lead thanks solely to Thorpe's 119 not out, making 226 in reply to the hosts' 224.

Fidel Edwards took 4-70 and Pedro Collins 3-60 to help reduce England to 119-6 at one stage.

Steve Harmison then took his 20th wicket of the series to remove Chris Gayle as the Windies fell to 21-1.

Thorpe needed the tail's help to score his 13th Test century after the Windies had rattled through the top-order.

Stands of 39 with Steve Harmison and 32 with Simon Jones were England's most meaningful, with no one adding more than 17 to Thorpe's massive contribution.

The exact importance of his knock was will become evident as the match progresses, but if England go on to win and keep their whitewash hopes alive it will be down to Thorpe only.

It was never easy going - as a strike rate of 54 would suggest - but Thorpe coupled a rock-solid technique with application to show that runs could be made on this erratic Barbados pitch.

Edwards put West Indies on top early on with a fine spell

The Surrey batsman took knocks to the head and body throughout his 217-ball classic, hitting 13 boundaries in the process.

He was called to the crease earlier than he would have hoped following the early dismissals of Mark Butcher and skipper Michael Vaughan.

England slumped from an overnight 20-1 to 33-3 in the face of a fiery opening onslaught led by Edwards, who had the England pair removed to catches behind the wicket.

It was just the sort of start the hosts needed after the tame capitulation on day one that saw them go from 167-3 to 224 all out.

Thorpe and Nasser Hussain battened down the hatches to take the score to 65 before Hussain played around Corey Collymore and was bowled through the gate.

England were perilously placed on 73-4 at lunch, but Andrew Flintoff emerged without a care in the world, cutting to the fence twice soon after the resumption.

Butcher fell for a single-figure score to an edge to first slip

The inflexibly cavalier all-rounder gave the illusion he could blast England out of the mire, but it was a false illusion.

His dismissal - spooning Best lazily to Collymore at extra-cover - left England on 90-5 and short of options.

Chris Read, under pressure to supplement his assured glovework with some runs, struck two boundaries before falling lbw to Edwards, leaving Collins to oust Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles just before tea.

Simon Jones (four) then defended his wicket for 37 balls - allowing Thorpe to add 28 in the meantime - before falling to a sharp Ramnaresh Sarwan catch off Best at short-leg.

Thorpe was still 10 runs short of triple figures with only the protection of Harmison remaining, but he took instantly to the new ball, hitting Edwards for two fours in three balls to get there.

Thorpe's performances under pressure are amazing - when he bats, doesn't he ooze class? From Arjun Arunachalam Have your say on 606

Harmison proved an able partner as England approached, and then passed, the Windies' first-innings tally.

It was a mark of Thorpe's impact that the Windies, on top for the entire day, looked defeated in the field, even when Collins bowled Harmison to end the innings.

Gayle then started the hosts' second dig with a bang, clubbing Harmison for three successive fours.

But Harmison had bought his wicket, pitching the next ball up and re-arranging the left-hander's stumps in a rousing end to a day that Graham Thorpe single-handedly stole from the Windies.

West Indies: C H Gayle, D Ganga, R R Sarwan, B C Lara (Capt) S Chanderpaul, R O Hinds, R D Jacobs (Wkt), T L Best, P T Collins C D Collymore, F H Edwards.

England: M E Trescothick, M P Vaughan (Capt), M A Butcher N Hussain, G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, C M W Read (Wkt), A F Giles M J Hoggard, S P Jones, S J Harmison.

Umpires: D B Hair, R E Koertzen.