By Mark Mitchener

Strauss reached his highest Test score of the series

England reached 121-4 by the close after losing four late wickets on day three of the fourth and final Test - having bowled West Indies out for 287.

Andrew Strauss finished on 72 not out, his highest score of the series.

But after nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard was out for a duck, Kevin Pietersen also fell without scoring when he was caught off the last ball of the day.

Earlier, Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit a defiant 136 not out, while England seamer Ryan Sidebottom took 5-88.

606: DEBATE Pietersen I'm your biggest fan but that was stupid. Just when everybody thought you had matured you do that SK

Chanderpaul added 86 with Dwayne Bravo (44), 58 with Marlon Samuels (19) and 58 in a defiant last-wicket stand with last man Corey Collymore (13).

After two days hit by rain, play started on time for the first time in the match as the tourists resumed on 132-4 and Chanderpaul soon reached his half-century off 99 balls.

Bravo had come close to overtaking Chanderpaul's score towards the end of day two, and was clearly more keen than his partner to crank up the scoring rate.

But in the sixth over of the day, Hoggard beat Bravo's inside edge by millimetres, and wicket-keeper Matthew Prior increased the pressure by standing up to the stumps.

If it was a genuine attempt to unnerve Bravo, then it worked four balls later when he tried to pull Hoggard to leg but only succeeded in chopping the ball on to his wicket.

With the Windies 141-5, Samuels emerged for his first innings of the tour - in only his second first-class match for nearly a year.

Chanderpaul's calm assurance made England increasingly rue Ian Bell's dropped slip catch from Saturday, when the Guyanese had made just 10.

He looked comfortable against left-armers Sidebottom and Monty Panesar, who were England's match-winners in the last two games, and was happy to occupy the crease and pick up runs without any real sense of urgency.

Chanderpaul kisses the pitch after reaching his century

The only risky moment came when Samuels turned a ball from Panesar to backward point and non-striker Chanderpaul took off for a single, and had nearly passed Samuels who was ball-watching.

But Samuels trotted back to his own crease, leaving Chanderpaul needing to turn, run and dive headlong for the bowler's end as Pietersen returned the ball to Panesar.

Samuels - who ended Brian Lara's international career by running him out in their final World Cup match - soon departed himself when he misjudged one from Sidebottom which bowled him behind his legs.

Denesh Ramdin survived until lunch, but fell soon after the interval when he edged to Collingwood at second slip - handing Sidebottom his fourth wicket.

Chanderpaul, who had made an unbeaten 116 in the third Test, looked to be in danger of running out of partners after Daren Powell skied Steve Harmison high into the air and Prior completed an easy catch, and Sidebottom yorked Fidel Edwards.

The left-hander was then two runs short of his century with just one wicket remaining.

But Chanderpaul finally found a reliable batting partner in last man Collymore, and he reached his 16th Test century off 176 balls with a handsome cut for four off Harmison.

Despite the flurry of wickets after lunch, England found the last pair difficult to dislodge, even after taking the new ball - while the tea interval was delayed as the extra half-hour was taken.

Collymore played with much more maturity than his fellow tail-enders, making a mockery of his placing at number 11 in the batting order - but eventually fell lbw to Panesar as tea was finally taken between innings.

Andrew Strauss, keen for a big score after a wretched run of form, took advantage of some wayward early Windies bowling with some firmly-struck boundaries.

However, he lost opening partner Alastair Cook, who made 13 before edging one down the leg side to Ramdin off Edwards.

Skipper Michael Vaughan took 12 balls to get off the mark, when he edged a four past gully, but was content to play the supporting role as Strauss dominated against the Windies pace attack.

The Middlesex man's fifty - his ninth in Tests - came off 80 balls, with 40 of his first 51 runs coming in boundaries.

Off-spinner Chris Gayle bowled tightly but only medium-pacer Bravo, with an lbw shout against Strauss, looked to have him in any danger.

When Vaughan edged Edwards to Bravo at second slip, Hoggard emerged as nightwatchman, but needlessly chased a wide one from Collymore to Gayle at slip - leaving Pietersen to see out the remaining overs with Strauss.