ROOT MASTER

Ton-up skipper shines at last as England look like winning a Test!

JOE ROOT put his stamp on an otherwise horror tour with his fifth Test ton as England skipper to move his side steadily towards a Caribbean consolation.

Root’s 111 not out, together with half-centuries for Joe Denly and Jos Buttler, took England to their highest total of the series – 325-4 and a lead of 448.

And for Denly, his maiden Test fifty was a valiant lastditch attempt to be considered one of the top order men for the summer.

With Root reaching his 16th Test hundred and Buttler scoring a ninth fifty since his recall last year, it meant that England’s engine room produced the sort of scorecard you would expect from a well-oiled Test team.

The truth though is somewhat short of that with England’s batsmen taking advantage of a day when things were very much in their favour. And how much store will be put in Denly’s 69 in a dead rubber with the Windies bowling attack depleted – and after enjoying the most charmed of second lives – remains to be seen.

In the words of one great England batsman, Graham Gooch: “It’s not how, but how many.” And in just his second Test, Denly will be delighted to have made a contribution.

Unfortunately for the 32-year-old, his knock didn’t quite make as emphatic a statement as 150 would have done.

Throwing his hands at a wide one from Shannon Gabriel, he fell in exactly the same manner he did in his first Test innings in Antigua.

He should have gone when he had made just 12 when a Gabriel thunderbolt took the shoulder of the bat to third slip, but the simple catch was put down by Shimron Hetmyer.

Earlier in the same over, Denly drove a ball to the cover ropes and the chasing Keemo Paul tore his right quad and was stretchered off. Keaton Jennings made 23 before being bowled unluckily by Alzarri Joseph.

The ball was missing the leg stump but flicked his trousers on the way past and deviated onto Jennings’ stumps.

It was a rotten bit of luck for another man playing for his career, but fundamentally his contribution of 62 runs at an average of 15 is not good enough.

Buttler played pretty well for his second fifty of the match, but with the second new ball in his hands Kemar Roach knocked back his off stump – much to his obvious joy.

Gabriel did his best to engage in a verbal confrontation with

Ben Stokes, who finished 29 not out, but the England man prefers to smile rather than talk back these days.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC Joe Root salutes his century and gets a hug from Ben Stokes