Bridgetown: Veerasammy Permaul's three-wicket haul gave West Indies a chance to fightback, as England declared their innings at 507/9 on Day 2 of the ongoing second Test here at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown.
At Stumps, West Indies' score read at 71/1, trailing by 436 runs, with Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks currently standing unbeaten at the crease. Resuming Day 2 at 244/3, England's Joe Root was joined by Ben Stokes and the duo proved to be really lethal for the Caribbean bowlers. They smashed them on every corner of the stadium to build a long partnership of 129 runs.
Their long partnership finally came to an end when Root got dismissed by Kemar Roach after scoring 153 runs with the team's total at 373/4. Following Root's wicket, Jonny Bairstow came to bat and along Stokes, the duo crossed the 400-run mark for their team.
West Indies finally got a sigh of relief after Bairstow was removed by Alzarri Joseph and Stokes was sent back by Brathwaite, having 120 runs in his kitty. Later, Ben Foakes and Chris Woakes joined hands and kept the scoreboard moving for the visitors.
Foakes was then dismissed by Permaul after a brief stint of 33 runs and his wicket was followed by Chris Woakes and Jack Leach's dismissal, with the team declaring at 507/9.
Later, coming to bat, West Indies got an early shock as the opener John Campbell was removed by Matthew Fisher, with only 14 runs on the board. Opener and skipper Brathwaite was then joined by Shamarh Brooks and the duo anchored the innings by ending the second day at 71/1.
Brief scores: England 507/9 d (Joe Root 153, Ben Stokes 120; Veerasammy Permaul 3/126) vs West Indies 71/1 (Shamarh Brooks 31*, Kraigg Brathwaite 28*; Matthew Fisher 1/18)