Ben Duckett

Root's knock of 143 from 206 deliveries saw him go level with Alastair Cook for the most Test centuries for England as they closed the day on 358-7. 

After losing the toss and being made to bat first, the hosts were reduced to 97-3 at lunch, with Dan Lawrence (nine), Ollie Pope (one) and Ben Duckett (40) all falling inside the first 20 overs of the contest. 

Asitha Fernando claimed his second wicket of the afternoon with the dismissal of Harry Brook for 33, but Root was able to steady the ship as the wickets tumbled around him.

Root passed the half-century mark for the 65th time in this format earlier in the day, forming a seven-wicket stand of 92 with Gus Atkinson (74 not out) also scoring his maiden Test half-century. 

Atkinson will resume at the crease alongside Matthew Potts (20 not out) as they look to add to England's total and their 50-run partnership on day two.

Data Debrief: Record-equalling Root

Root has now equalled Cook (33) for the most hundreds for England in men’s Tests; he’s scored 60+ in seven of his last nine Test innings (84, 68, 14, 122, 87, 62 and 143).

This was also Root's sixth Test century at Lord's, the joint-most by any batter in the format (including Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan).

England looked like they could collapse when they were left at 70-3 following the dismissals of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence on Saturday.

Yet Root, along with Harry Brook, steadied the ship before the latter was caught and bowled by Prabath Jayasuriya on 32, leaving the hosts on 116-4, chasing a target of 204 to win.

Root, however, remained nerveless, with Jamie Smith contributing an entertaining and useful 39 from just 48 balls in a brief stint at the other end.

Smith's stand came to an end with England still 21 runs shy of their target, but Root would not let victory slip through their fingers.

And it was Root who fittingly had the final say as he struck his second boundary to take himself onto 62 and seal a convincing win.

Data Debrief: Root comes up big

Root has scored 60+ in five of his last seven Test innings, after managing 42 in the first innings of this match (84, 68, 14, 122, 87, 42, 62).

He is just one century away, meanwhile, from matching Alastair Cook's record of 33 Test tons for England.

In a match eventually reduced to 40 overs per side after rain interruptions before and during the match, England recovered from a horrific first ten overs to post 206-9 from their 40 overs after being put in to bat by West Indian skipper Shai Hope.

Debutant Matthew Forde got proceedings off to the best possible start for the West Indies with the wicket of Phil Salt for just four at the end of the first over.

Not long after, Forde was at it again, picking up the wickets of Zak Crawley (0) and Will Jacks (17) to leave England struggling at 45-3 at the start of the ninth over.

45-3 became 48-4 in the 10^th over when Alzarri Joseph brilliantly ran out Harry Brook off his own bowling for one.

England captain Jos Buttler, fresh off a half-century in the last game, lasted only one ball on Saturday.

Joseph greeted Buttler with a well-directed short ball that he was unable to control, helping the ball out to Gudakesh Motie on the deep square leg boundary for a simple catch to leave England 49-5 after 10 overs of the rain-shortened 43 overs per side contest.

An 88-run sixth wicket partnership between Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone provided some stability to the English effort before Duckett fell for a well-played 73-ball 71 in the 26^th over. His knock included six fours and one six.

Livingstone was next to go two overs later, caught by Sherfane Rutherford at mid-on off the bowling of Romario Shepherd for 45 to leave England 142-7.

With England 161-7 off 33 overs, the rains came once again. Soon after the restart, England lost their eighth wicket when Rehan Ahmed fell caught behind off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph for 15 to leave the score 166-8 in the 34^th over.

Joseph picked up his third wicket when he had Sam Curran caught on the point boundary by Gudakesh Motie for 12 to leave England 171-9 in the 36^th over.

In the end, a 35-run 10^th wicket partnership between Gus Atkinson (20*) and Matthew Potts (15*) helped England reach 206-9.

Forde ended with 3-29 from his eight overs while Joseph was expensive, going for 61 from his eight overs with three wickets to his name.

A third rain delay during the innings break meant the West Indies had a revised target of 188 from 34 overs.

The chase got off to the worst possible start when Brandon King was caught at cover off the bowling of Gus Atkinson for just one in the second over.

Alick Athanaze and Keacy Carty then put together a solid 76-run second wicket partnership that ended when Atkinson trapped Athanaze in front for a 51-ball 45 in the 14^th over.

Captain Shai Hope was next to go, caught brilliantly by Matthew Potts off the bowling of Rehan Ahmed for 15 to leave the West Indies 99-3 in the 17^th over.

Then, with the West Indies cruising needing 72 from 78 balls, Shimron Hetmyer mistimed a ball straight into the hands of Phil Salt at point for 11 off the bowling of Will Jacks.

The West Indies quickly lost another one when Sherfane Rutherford held out to Zak Crawley at long on off Jacks’ bowling for three to leave the score at 122-5 after 23.2 overs leaving the hosts needing 66 runs from 64 balls.

Carty, two balls after bringing up an excellent half century, became Jacks’ third victim in quick succession caught and bowled to leave the West Indies 135-6 needing 53 runs from 50 balls.

The 31^st proved to be the ultimate game changer for the West Indies. The over bowled by Gus Atkinson went for 24 to leave them needing just nine more to win from the final three overs.

In the end, Romario Shepherd (41*) and Matthew Forde (13*) steered the West Indies to 191-6 off 31.4 overs to seal the 2-1 series win.

Will Jacks tried his best for England with 3-22 from his seven overs while Gus Atkinson ended with 2058 from his six overs.

Full Scores:

England 206-9 off 40 overs (Ben Duckett 71, Liam Livingston 45, Matthew Forde 3-29, Alzarri Joseph 3-61, Romario Shepherd 2-50)

West Indies 191-6 off 31.4 overs (Keacy Carty 50, Alick Athanaze 45, Romario Shepherd 41*, Will Jacks 3-22, Gus Atkinson 2-58)

Gus Atkinson finished with figures of 4-67, while Chris Woakes took 3-69 for England, as only a fine sixth-wicket stand from Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva saved West Indies from being bowled out for a much lower total. 

But England, chasing a 3-0 series whitewash, let their dominant position slip when taking up the bat for the final 35 minutes, Zak Crawley (18), Ben Duckett (3) and Mark Wood (0) being dispatched as bowler Jayden Seales dropped them to 38-3.

Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat, leading his side to a solid start before a spell of three wickets in five overs before lunch put England on top.

Atkinson accounted for Mikyle Louis (26) and Alick Athanaze (2) on either side of Wood sending stumps flying with a full delivery to dismiss Kirk McKenize for 12.

Brathwaite's knock of 61 was brought to a halt shortly after the action resumed, the captain gloving Wood's leg-side ball to Jamie Smith as the tourists slid from 76-0 to 115-5 in 45 balls. 

Holder (59) and Da Silva (49) then shared 108 to drag the Windies towards a respectable total, but things looked bleak for them when the latter feathered Woakes' ball through to Smith.

Having gone 30 overs without a wicket, England needed just 14 more to polish off the tail, the highlight being a terrific diving catch from Joe Root to send Gudakesh Motie (8) packing.

England were given just over half an hour with the bat to cap Friday's action, but any hopes of a serene finish were soon dashed.

Holder made two terrific catches off Seales' bowling, the first from Crawley's thick outside edge and the second to dismiss Wood for a duck, either side of Alzarri Joseph's cracking delivery accounting for Duckett.

That spell ensured what had been a good day for the hosts ended on a sour note, with the Windies sure to target quick wickets when the action resumes on Saturday.

Data Debrief: Atkinson and Seales dominate 

This series began with all the focus on James Anderson as England's greatest-ever bowler bowed out at Lord's, but Atkinson has taken centre-stage since making his Test debut in the opening match and now has 20 wickets through five innings.

That is eight more than West Indies' Jayden Seales, the next-most prolific bowler in this series, has managed.

Seales was determined to have an impact on day one, though, and his two wickets at the death have set the stage for a far more competitive match than those England won at Lord's and Trent Bridge. 

Captain Kraigg Brathwaite leads the charge on the batting ranking, as he moved up two slots to 40th position, following scores of 48 and 47 in the second Test, which West Indies lost by 241 runs. They lost the first Test by an innings and 114 runs and will try to avoid a whitewash in the final Test in Edgbaston starting on Friday.

Wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua de Silva was rewarded for his first innings score of 82 in that match, as he jumped seven places to 61st, while Jason Holder’s 27 and 37 saw him inched up two places to 70th. Kavem Hodge’s 120, which was his maiden Test century, pushed him into the top 80.

The Dominican batsman moved 21 places up to 75^th, one spot behind Kyle Mayers, who, despite being out of action, remains in 74th. Alick Athanaze held firm in 77th, while discarded Jermaine Blackwood (50th), Tagenarine Chanderpaul (83rd), Roston Chase (86th), and Kirk McKenzie (100) are the other Caribbean batsmen in the top 100.

On the bowling chart, new-ball bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales made the only notable improvements to their rankings. Joseph moved up two places to 33rd after finishing with five wickets in the match, and Seales moved up 10 places from 44th to 34th with six wickets.

Meanwhile, England batter Harry Brook has achieved a career-best third position after notching a century in the second Test.

Brook, who scored 36 and 109 in Nottingham, advanced four places, while his teammates Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope have also made significant gains in the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings, which are carried out on Wednesdays across formats.

Left-handed opener Duckett has progressed six places to 16th position after notching scores of 71 and 76, while Player of the Match Pope has advanced from 29th to 21st with scores of 121 and 51.

Chris Woakes is back into the top 20 of the bowling rankings for the first time since September 2021, after he finished with four for 84 and two for 28 in the match, while spinner Shoaib Bashir has advanced 18 slots to 53rd position after he took his third five-wicket haul in just his fifth Test.

In the ICC World Test Championship standings, England are placed in sixth place, while West Indies are ninth, as per the percentage points that determine qualification.