Batters stand tall, Windies in control of first Test

The West Indies' batters backed up their bowlers on day three to keep the visitors on top of England in the first Test in Southampton.

At stumps on Friday, England were 0-15, trailing the Windies by 99 runs after Jason Holder's side posted 318 in their first innings.

Half-centuries to opener Kraigg Brathwaite (65) and gloveman Shane Dowrich (61) provided the backbone of the Windies innings, while Roston Chase (47) and Shamarh Brooks (39) offered support.

First-time skipper Ben Stokes finished with 4-49 from 14 overs and Jimmy Anderson added three wickets to his enormous career tally.

For the first time in the match, Southampton was bathed in sunshine and the West Indies batters took full advantage.

Brathwaite and No.3 Shai Hope moved the overnight score from 1-57 to 2-102 before off-spinner Dom Bess found the edge of the first-drop to secure the much-needed breakthrough.

However, a breakthrough would have come an over earlier had express paceman Jofra Archer kept his front foot behind the popping crease - his lbw of Hope overturned upon review.

The visitors kept chipping away at England's total as Brathwaite passed 50 in the 37th over, his first half-century in 21 innings coming at a perfect time for his team.

His innings came to a close in the last quarter of the morning session, out to Stokes lbw.

But unlike their opponents, the Windies would not suffer a middle-order collapse. Instead, dogged partnerships of 38, 33, 13 and 81 kept the hosts at bay.

Chase and Brooks hit six boundaries each to frustrate Stokes' chargers before Dowrich took down Bess and looked the most comfortable of the touring batters.

Dowrich's knock was a far cry from his last tour of England in 2017 when he scored just 24 runs in six innings. 

Anderson's removal of Chase was the beginning of the end of the Windies' innings, which went from 5-267 to 10-318 in 13 overs of the second new ball. Dowrich was the penultimate wicket to fall when he unluckily tickled a leg-glance to the wicketkeeper from the bowling of the England captain. 

A lot was made about the selection of Archer and Mark Wood at the expense of Stuart Broad, and between the high-speed duo only one wicket was captured, that of No.11 Shannon Gabriel.  

England's opening pair of Dom Sibley and Rory Burns were left to face 10 tricky overs before stumps, and despite a probing spell from fast bowlers Kemar Roach, Holder and Gabriel, they survived unscathed with a big task ahead on Saturday.