England left frustrated on day of toil in second Test in Barbados

Saqib Mahmood saw his first Test wicket struck down for a no-ball as England met a wall of resistance on day three of the second Test against the West Indies in Barbados.

The tourists managed just three wickets in three gruelling sessions at the Kensington Oval as the same placid pitch that allowed them to rack up 507 came back to bite their bowlers.

West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite offered an eight-hour blockade as he made 109 not out in 337 balls, while Jermaine Blackwood’s 102 helped the hosts close on 288 for four.

A maiden scalp for Lancashire quick Saqib, who saw fellow debutant Matthew Fisher open his account on the second evening, would have provided a welcome release for English frustrations and the moment looked to have come when he squeezed a wonderful yorker through Blackwood’s defences on 65.

The 25-year-old was mobbed by his team-mates only for their celebrations to be cut short by umpire Nigel Duguid, who stretched out his right arm to call Saqib for over-stepping.

It was a crushing moment for the seamer, who was midway through his 14th over of a fruitless search for success, and for the whole England side who spent almost 68 overs watching a fourth-wicket stand of 183 before Dan Lawrence’s part-time spin did the trick.

No-balls have become a familiar frustration in recent years, with Saqib joining Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Tom Curran and Mason Crane in having their first Test wicket scrubbed from the records. Stokes, Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes also paid for sloppy footwork during this winter’s Ashes.

With two full days left there is still plenty of time for a positive result to be conjured but if conditions remain anything like as benign as this, a repeat of last week’s Antiguan stalemate appears a