Joe Root’s captaincy hangs by a thread as West Indies clobber England

The third Test in Grenada will reach its conclusion on the fourth day and what could easily prove Joe Root’s last as England captain following a batting collapse to top anything witnessed during his side’s winter of discontent.

On a stirring third day at the National Cricket Stadium in St George’s, it was the unlikely right-arm medium of Kyle Mayers that re-opened the wounds inflicted by the more celebrated Australian attack in the Ashes, claiming remarkable figures of five for nine to leave West Indies within touching distance of a 1-0 series win.

England have talked up their progress on this tour but will resume their third innings on 103 for eight and a lead of just 10 runs. They need the tail to wag for a second time in the match, much like it did for West Indies when Joshua Da Silva’s unbeaten 100 turned the tide in the morning and posted 297 all out for a lead of 93 runs. But, quite frankly, they look a beaten team.

Root has dutifully soldiered on with the captaincy due to a lack of alternatives but after 64 Tests he will do well to recover from this performance. Certainly when he was one of three England batters to succumb to Mayers in a collapse of four for 39 after lunch, his backfoot punch edged to slip, he looked spent.

The atmosphere was electric all day, the locals signing off from the working week, outnumbering the English for the first time in this series and watching West Indies follow Da Silva’s vigil with a rousing bowling performance that began when Zak Crawley recklessly drove the fired-up Jayden Seales to slip.

When Mayers followed his second removal of Root in the match by bowling Dan Lawrence for a duck – the No 4 shouldering arms to one that nipped back in – and had Ben Stokes caught behind on