England collapse once again in face of West Indies onslaught in St Lucia

A century stand between Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler late on day one looked to have given the tourists a platform to build on in St Lucia but despite posting their best total of the series England were brilliantly dismantled.

Kemar Roach, a constant nemesis throughout the series, removed four batsman with one apiece for the intimidating Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad had three overs with the new ball but there was no early strike as the Windies scored two runs before lunch.

Buttler was first to go in the third over of the day, knocked over by the pace and precision of Gabriel without adding to his overnight score of 67.

The Trinidadian was immediately up at 90mph, spearing one in at a full length and finding the gap between bat and pad.

Stokes survived Gabriel’s red-blooded onslaught to reach 79 but perished just as a first century since August 2017 appeared achievable.

An ambitious pull off Roach did for him, with wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich haring off to square-leg to take a fine diving catch at full stretch.

Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow, back at No 7 following his flirtation with the top three, had a miserable 33-ball stay. He scored just a pair of singles in that time, was dropped on two and suffered a series of blows to the body.

He eventually went after a dipping inswinger from Roach and played on off the inside edge.

The lower order offered slender resistance, Moeen Ali (13) nicking Joseph to slip before Mark Wood and James Anderson were bounced out by the relentless Roach in the space of three deliveries.