The West Indies bowlers staged a late fightback to reduce England to 284 for eight in their second innings against West Indies at stumps on the fourth day of the opening Test at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium in Southampton on Saturday.

At the end of the day’s play, the hosts have taken a 170-run lead over the Caribbean side, with Jofra Archer (5) and Mark Wood (1) remaining unbeaten at the crease. 

Earlier in the day, England resumed their second innings at 15 for 0, with openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley batting at the crease.

Burns (42) and Sibley (50) provided a perfect start to the side’s second innings by sharing a crucial 72-run partnership for the opening wicket.

Subsequently, Joe Denly failed to convert his decent start into a big score and was departed for 29 runs.

Zak Crawley and skipper Ben Stokes then joined forced and they not only notched up crucial knocks of 76 and 46 runs respectively, but also stitched a 98-run stand for the fourth wicket to help England cross the 250-run mark.

England, however, lost Ollie Pope (12), Jose Buttler (9) and Dom Bess (three) inside 24 runs to reduce to 284 for eight.

For West Indies, Shannon Gabriel bagged three wickets while conceding 62 runs. 

Alzarri Joseph and Roston Chase claimed two wickets each, while Jason Holder also chipped in with a wicket.

Earlier, Kraigg Brathwaite (65) and Shane Dowrich (61) smashed a half-century each, while Roston Chase (47) and Shamarh Brooks (39) also notched up crucial knocks to help West Indies post 318 runs before bundling out in reply to England’s first innings score of 204.

Stand-in skipper Ben Stokes was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts with his figures of four for 49, followed by James Anderson’s three for 62.Meanwhile, Dom Bess and Mark Wood bagged two and a wicket, respectively.