More day two photos

Batting hero Graham Thorpe paid tribute to England's tail after the visitors kept themselves in contention in the third Test against West Indies.

Thorpe was England's star performer, hitting 119 not out to guide England to 226 in reply to the hosts' 224.

He shared in stands of 39 with Steve Harmison and 32 with Simon Jones.

"Those partnerships are the reason we are still in the game, because it was getting away from us a little bit," Thorpe said.

"The best partnerships came towards the end with Jones and Harmison."

Thorpe could not find reliable partners in the top-order, with England falling to 33-3 and 119-6 in the face of a game Windies attack led by Fidel Edwards (4-70).

It was left to the lower-order to help Thorpe get his 13th Test century, which came off 217 balls and included 13 fours.

Edwards struck twice early on as England descended to 33-3

"The team really needed it," Thorpe said.

"We should have done better with the bat but we were in some trouble.

"So I was delighted to dig in for the team and get up level with West Indies in the end."

Edwards removed Michael Vaughan and Mark Butcher in the opening overs of the second day, but Thorpe singled out Corey Collymore for praise.

"I thought Collymore bowled exceptionally at us before lunch and they kept it very tight.

"We tried to force it a little bit and after lunch but we just kept on losing wickets.

"Every time we got a partnership going we had a setback, so it was one of those days."

Harmison removed Chris Gayle in the dying overs before stumps as the hosts fell to 21-1, for an overall lead of 19.

"A big lead for them would have been a problem because we've got to back second on it," Thorpe said.