England outfought and outclassed with another series defeat on the cards

England’s woeful winter was hurtling towards another damaging defeat as a miserable third day in Grenada left Joe Root and his side with nowhere to turn against the West Indies.

Victory in this series decider would have allowed England to begin putting their Ashes debacle behind them and given Root a much-needed boost of authority but, with the game up for grabs, they were outfought and outclassed.

In a stadium teeming with home fans, who finally outnumbered the travelling contingent and turned the ground into a wall of steel drums and blaring horns, England slunk into the shadows.

The tourists were vapid and vanilla with the ball as Josh Da Silva’s excellent 100 not out turned a slender lead of 28 into a commanding one of 93, then weak-kneed and wobbly in their reply as they lurched to 103 for eight.

Medium-pacer Kyle Mayers claimed figures of five for nine as he became the latest bowler to feast on a team whose tendency to wilt under pressure is becoming its unwanted hallmark.

A crushing defeat on the fourth morning appears all but inevitable, with Chris Woakes and day one’s plucky last-wicket pairing of Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood all that remains to bolster their 10-run advantage.

Things had been finely poised at the start of play, with the West Indies narrowly in front with just two wickets in hand. But Trinidadian wicketkeeper Da Silva carved out a gritty, unbeaten – and eventually tearful – century as England’s underwhelming attack laboured away in insipid fashion.

Da Silva worked hard for every run, playing through the pain of a badly hurt hand and pairing his own designs on a maiden Test hundred with a meticulous plan to protect number 11 Jayden Seales.

They shared a morale-sapping stand of 52 to see their side