Root defends Stokes' heavy workload with the ball

England captain Joe Root has defended his use of key man Ben Stokes after the all-rounder bowled 41 overs in the drawn first Test against West Indies having suffered a side strain during the Ashes.

Steve Harmison, commentating for BT Sport, called it "madness" that Stokes was still bowling late on day five in Antigua with England's chance of forcing victory becoming increasingly slim.

Stokes was pressed into more action than England had initially planned with Mark Wood's sore right elbow leaving him unable to bowl in West Indies' second innings and putting his participation in the rest of the three-Test series, which continues in Barbados on Wednesday, in doubt.

On Stokes, Root said: "You are trying to win a Test match so telling Stokes not to bowl is very difficult. I only wanted him to bowl because he has been incredible throughout the whole game.

"One thing to come out of Australia was about him having honest conversations with me on the field, that he wasn't trying to do stuff he couldn't do. He has handled himself extremely well.

"We said we wanted to manage him as best we could throughout the game and he has probably bowled a little bit more than we anticipated, he obviously has, but he stood up to it."

England had to settle for a stalemate at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with West Indies ending on 147-4 in 70.1 overs having been set 286 to win once the tourists declared on 349-6 shortly before lunch.

West Indies tumbled to 67-4 at the start of the final session before first-innings centurion Nkrumah Bonner (38no off 138) and Jason Holder (37no off 101) dug in to ensure no further wickets were lost.

Root declared himself a "proud" captain afterwards, though, with a number of players stepping up over the course of