Second Test, Edgbaston, day three (stumps):
England 566-9d & 148-3; West Indies 336 | Everything's going really well and I've bowled some really good spells  |
England were indebted to the bowling of Ashley Giles and the batting of Marcus Trescothick as they moved into a winning position in the second Test.
Giles, man-of-the-match at Lords, took 4-65 as West Indies were bowled out for an under-par score of 336.
With a lead of 230, Michael Vaughan turned down the opportunity of enforcing the follow-on.
Instead, England moved to 148-3 at stumps on day three, with Marcus Trescothick unbeaten on 88.
The tourists began the day in good heart thanks to a third-wicket partnership already worth 172 between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara.
They extended that further during the morning, despite conditions that suited England's swing bowlers Matthew Hoggard and James Anderson.
The stand was worth 209 - a record for that wicket by visiting teams at Edgbaston, when Andrew Flintoff finally struck.
The man he removed was Lara. Apparently unsettled by a yorker he barely picked up, the West Indies captain lashed out at the next ball and was caught by Graham Thorpe at a floating slip position for 95.
That left him 20 runs short of the 10,000 mark in Tests - achieved by only three cricketers in the past.
 Despite Sarwan's fine century, West Indies really struggled |
Sarwan batted beautifully either side of lunch to reach his first Test century against England, having been dropped by Thorpe off Anderson on 92.
Finally Flintoff bowled him off his inside edge for 139, a wicket that presaged a remarkable collapse as the final six wickets then fell for 13 runs in 10 overs.
Dwayne Bravo was bowled by Giles, Ridley Jacobs caught at slip off Hoggard, and then crucially Shivnarine Chanderpaul, badly dropped by Vaughan on 21, was caught at silly point off Giles for 45.
The wickets kept coming as Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore both fell to Giles with Steve Harmison removing Omari Banks in between.
England's second innings did not get off to the best of starts. On a pitch beginning to show signs of wear, Jermaine Lawson proved effective as he took three early wickets to leave England 52-3. Robert Key and Michael Vaughan both mistimed leg-side hits to be caught at mid-wicket after Strauss had wafted lazily outside off-stump.
It needed Thorpe to knuckle down with Trescothick for the final hour, and although both men survived chances, England are almost out of reach with two full days to go.
Trescothick, a first innings centurion, was lethal against Bravo, Banks and Chris Gayle late in the day.
England: M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, R W T Key, M P Vaughan (capt), G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, G O Jones, A F Giles, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, J Anderson.
West Indies: C H Gayle, D S Smith, R R Sarwan, B C Lara, S Chanderpaul, D J J Bravo, R D Jacobs, O A C Banks, C Collymore, P T Collins, J Lawson.
Umpires: DB Hair, SJA Taufel.