Windies surge has it all in the balance
He prodded at his 162nd and saw an inside edge splay his stumps, only for third umpire Michael Gough to hush Gabriel’s celebrations by calling a very tight no-ball.
The Trinidadian was visibly aghast but he returned to his mark and finished the job two balls later, Sibley caught down the leg side in an increasingly familiar fashion.
Denly was out next, for his Test average of 29, when he tamely lobbed Chase to the waiting Holder at short midwicket. By that point Crawley was already looking a more fluent source of runs, scoring more briskly than his county colleague.
He accelerated his scoring either side of tea and reached his halfcentury in 80 balls with his fourth boundary off Chase, a neat reverse sweep.
With Stokes looking confident and driving crisply at the other end the lead had swelled to 97 when the second new ball arrived. Gabriel was loose with it initially, conceding 13 in an over as Crawley moved past his previous top score of 66 and Stokes took back-to-back fours.
The fourth-wicket pair soon had the best stand of the match – topping 81 between Chase and Shane Dowrich – and were two short of the century when Stokes fell.
For the second time in a row he was beaten by his opposite number, stepping across his stumps to Holder and edging to the first of two gully fielders. His timing had been good but his footwork perhaps too busy for its own good.
There was time yet for Crawley to define the day but he joined his captain in the very next over, aiming Joseph towards the on- side but feeding a leading edge straight back to the seamer.
The picture had changed rapidly, with England’s 139-run lead suddenly looking far thinner than it had just minutes before.
Jos Buttler was wholly unable to improve things, reversing an lbw on five only to be cleaned up by Joseph for nine. The final word went to Gabriel, who went hard at the stumps in his last burst, castling Dom Bess and Ollie Pope to finish with three for 62 and place his team in the ascendance.