Joe Root leads England rally against Windies

LEEDS:England captain Joe Root threatened to make West Indies pay for giving him another reprieve in the second Test at Headingley after opposing skipper Jason Holder starred with both bat and ball.

England were 171 for three in their second innings at stumps on Sunday’s third day, a lead of two runs, after the West Indies had made an impressive 427.

Root, dropped on 10, was 45 not out on his Yorkshire home ground, with Dawid Malan unbeaten on 21. Their unbroken stand was so far worth 77 runs.

All-rounder Holder who had earlier made a valuable 43, captured the key wicket of Alastair Cook and removed Tom Westley on his way to stumps figures of two for 44 in 17 overs.

England, facing a large firstinnings deficit of 169 runs, saw Cook and Mark Stoneman, who along with fellow batsman Westley and Malan is looking to cement his Test place ahead of the upcoming Ashes tour of Australia, start steadily.

Meanwhile, Ben Stokes has received an official reprimand for using “obscene, offensive or insulting” language.

England 258 & 171/3 (M Stoneman 52, J Root batting 45) vs West Indies 427 (K Brathwaite 134, S Hope 147, J Blackwood 49, J Holder 43, J Anderson 5/76) PALLEKELE: The third One-day International between India and Sri Lanka was marred by crowd trouble on Sunday with the visitors on the verge of clinching victory to seal the five-match series with two games to spare.

Sri Lankan fans, who had turned out in large numbers and were on the grass banks, began throwing water bottles with India needing just eight runs to seal victory, after Rohit Sharma struck his 12th ODI century.

With the spectators continuing to hurl bottles, play was stopped and the players huddled at the centre of the pitch. MS Dhoni even lay on the pitch for a while.

The ground staff rushed to clear the bottles from the field but the crowd continued to boo the Sri Lankan team that has struggled all through this home series against India after losing an ODI series against Zimbabwe.

After waiting for almost half an hour, the umpires asked the players to head to the dressing room while policemen spread out to the trouble spots.

Even riot police arrived to guide the spectators out of the ground. The bottle throwing stopped as more force arrived. At Dambulla, spectators blocked the

Sri Lankan team bus before police cleared the path. Play resumed after almost 30 minutes and India clinched the series.