West Indies lose three quick wickets before lunch to hand England initiative

Gus Atkinson struck twice for England as the West Indies frittered away a fighting start to reach lunch on 97 for three in the third Test at Edgbaston.

With the series already lost following heavy defeats at Lord’s and Trent Bridge, the tourists were looking to salvage some pride in Birmingham and appeared to be up for the battle.

Led by skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, who reached lunch on 56 not out, they put on the highest opening stand of the series as he and Mikyle Louis added 76.

But, after waiting almost 22 overs for their first breakthrough, England moved quickly to snatch three wickets in 26 deliveries before lunch.

Atkinson got things moving, finding Louis’ outside edge with a nice ball that shaped away and nestled in Jamie Smith’s gloves. Louis, who had taken 21 deliveries to get off the mark and was beaten on a handful of occasions as he struggled to master the early swing, departed for 26 and opened up his side’s vulnerable middle order.

Nobody has proved more prone than Kirk McKenzie and he continued a horror sequence at number three, smearing a couple of boundaries before being outgunned by an inswinging yorker from Mark Wood that blasted middle stump out of the ground.

McKenzie’s knock of 12 left him with a meagre total of 25 in five innings on tour and no shortage of regrets.

England had not been able to find a way past Brathwaite, who was unfazed by the occasional plays and misses which punctuated the innings and found a way to get into the contest with seven boundaries, but he lost another partner to the very last ball of the session.

Alick Athanaze was guilty of a poor stroke, swivelling into a short one from Atkinson which did not get as high as he expected. His attempted pull shot cannoned off the bottom edge, dragged down onto the stumps and gave England a major shot in the arm after a slow start gave way to a familiar clatter of wickets.