England suffer agonising moments in the field in frustrating day against West Indies

On a long, hot day in the field, there were two agonising moments of missed opportunity for England on a pitch that remains as flat as it was when they racked up 500 runs for just the fourth time in five years.

The first was in the morning session. Ben Stokes had just picked up Nkrumah Bonner, immovable in Antigua, with a controversial lbw (did he hit it?), their second wicket of the day after Jack Leach had Shamarh Brooks caught lazily at backward point.

Stokes, with the old ball in his hand, was finding a little reverse swing. Jermaine Blackwood was new to the crease, and still scoreless. Stokes cannoned a ball into his back pad, and every England fielder went up in appeal. Umpire Nigel Duguid, on Test debut, said no.

Stokes settled for the decision, turning back to his mark. He thought it was sliding down the legside, and had no interest in DRS, even though his team-mates – including the captain Joe Root – seemed keen to use one of their three available reviews. As is so often the case, Stokes won the argument. The ball was crashing into leg-stump.

The second came after tea. By now, Blackwood had 65 and his partnership with Kraigg Brathwaite – nearing his 10th Test ton – was worth 128. England were into their 96th over in the field.

Saqib Mahmood, one of two England debutants, produced a beautiful yorker that slipped under Blackwood’s bat, and into the stumps. England wheeled off in celebration.

Duguid, though, had received a message from the third umpire, and held out his arm: no ball.

The moment was agony for Mahmood and his team-mates. But, for many of them, it was familiar. Mahmood is just the latest England bowler to be denied his maiden Test wicket by an overstep: think Stokes in 2013, Mark Wood in 2015, Tom