Welcome to the Evening Standard’s LIVE coverage of day four of the second Test between England and the West Indies.
England’s hopes of gaining a series-levelling victory suffered a blow yesterday when the third day’s play was washed out by persistent rain at Emirates Old Trafford.
Overnight rain never cleared enough to even consider an inspection, and play was finally called off just after 4pm.
One ray of sunshine came in the form of news that Jofra Archer will be available again for the third Test – whether the series is level or not…
Will Macpherson and Matt Davies will bring you all the latest action from the Old Trafford today.
Live Updates
Will Macpherson is at Old Trafford
Hard graft for England over the last 90 minutes. Brathwaite and Brooks have batted well, but there’s not too much for them to worry about with the pitch looking flat and the ball soft. New ball is 13 overs away, they’ll want a couple before then.
WI 193/3 (66.0 overs)
Brathwaite 73, Brooks 41
Decent first over back for Woakes, shipping just the one run. But again, it’s all a bit stale. Brathwaite creeps on as he knocks one to deep square leg for a single.
WI 192/3 (65.0 overs)
Brathwaite 72, Brooks 41
Delightful batting from Brooks once more. Stokes pitches one up off side as Brooks steers it through cover point for a boundary. Four more runs.
Awkward ball from Stokes to finish the over as a venomous delivery strikes Brooks on the arm. Ouch.
Meanwhile, Woakes comes back into the attack to replace Bess – who’s had a disappointing session.
WI 188/3 (64.0 overs)
Brathwaite 72, Brooks 37
Braithwaite moves into the 70s with a cracking shot on the final ball of the over. A perfectly timed drive on the half-volley through cover sees the batsman pick up his eighth boundary. Sweet.
WI 183/3 (63.0 overs)
Brathwaite 68, Brooks 36
Stokes continues to probe with the short ball as he starts around the wicket. Brooks won’t budge, however, as he knocks one round the wicket for a single on the final ball.
WI 181/3 (62.0 overs)
Brathwaite 68, Brooks 34
Braithwaite pulls one to the leg side after Bess delivers another ball perhaps a tad short. Moving along nicely, Brathwaite.
WI 178/3 (61.0 overs)
Brathwaite 65, Brooks 34
Maiden. Defensive over from the Windies batsmen. Brooks faces all six balls, defends three and leaves the others.
Brathwaite and Brooks’ partnership has extended beyond 50, a real testament to their willingness to just dig in and plod along.
They look pretty comfortable at the moment, to be honest. It’s all gone a bit quiet.
WI 178/3 (60.0 overs)
Brathwaite 65, Brooks 34
Just the single from the over as Brooks clips one off the pads through square in the final delivery of the over. Bess perhaps proving a tad easier to negotiate than in his early overs this morning.
WI 177/3 (59.0 overs)
Brathwaite 65, Brooks 33
Stokes goes searching with the short ball but to no avail. Brooks turns his head as the ball clatters off his glove and into safety. Getting tricky for England, this.
WI 173/3 (57.0 overs)
Brathwaite 63, Brooks 32
Right then, the West Indies move within 100 of the required 270 to avoid the follow on. Not looking great for England, who really need seven – yes, seven – wickets before then.
WI 170/3 (56.0 overs)
Brathwaite 62, Brooks 31
No slowing down for Brooks who races his way past 30. He smashes one through cover for four and sends Bess packing. Good stuff.
WI 164/3 (55.0 overs)
Brathwaite 62, Brooks 25
Brooks in fine nick here. Stokes attempts a fuller delivery but is rattled away through mid wicket with a perfectly timed clip off the pads.
WI 158/3 (54.0 overs)
Brathwaite 62, Brooks 19
Bess with a gift for Brooks who opens the face of the bat and knocks it through point for four. These are runs England don’t want to be giving away, with the West Indies climbing ever-closer to that required 270 runs to avoid to follow on.
Brathwaite finishes the over with a couple of runs with Bess delivering another ball wide of stumps.
WI 151/3 (52.0 overs)
Brathwaite 60, Brooks 14
Genuine swing and a miss!
That’s a good over from Curran, albeit an expensive one. The Windies get away with another one as Brooks totally misses a 79 mph Curran inswinger. It just misses the inside edge – anything could have happened there.
Curran then finds the edge with a slower ball but Brooks sends that out for a four. Good stuff.
150 up for the Windies.
WI 145/3 (51.0 overs)
Brathwaite 60, Brooks 8
That’s a loose shot! But Brathwaite gets away with it! He sends an edge flying past a diving Crawley who has moved to second slip with Stokes taking the ball.
WI 141/3 (50.0 overs)
Brathwaite 56, Brooks 8
That’s 50 overs gone as time continues to fade for England. But hey, at least we’re getting some cricket today! Just the single from the over as Brathwaite nips Curran round the corner for a solitary run.
Stokes to join the attack next.
WI 140/3 (49.0 overs)
Brathwaite 55, Brooks 8
Poor ball from Broad but again that’s a fine shot from Brooks. He gets his wrists moving once more as he flicks one leg side.
Brathwaite 54, Brooks 4
Brooks gets off the mark as he sends one rolling towards the boundary through square leg. England will want to avoid another partnership from growing as it did after this morning’s earlier wicket.
50
Brathwaite 54, Brooks 0
Well then, has the momentum swung after lunch? After Curran gets another all-important wicket, Broad comes up with a peach of an over (to start with, anyway).
England think they have another as Broad lands one flush on the pads of Brathwaite. Root goes upstairs but the review should the ball to have been pitching outside the line and umpire’s call stands.
England cry for another in the very next ball but opt to leave it this time with Stokes signalling it was too high.
An under-pressure Brathwaite then hits Broad for consecutive fours to pass the 50 mark.
Will Macpherson is at Old Trafford
Right, England have an opening. Can they barge through? Hope just has a nibble at Curran and is on his way.
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TV and live stream details
TV: The match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket (Sky: 405, Virgin: 504) and Sky Sports Main Event (Sky: 401, Virgin; 501).
Live stream: The match will be available each day on the Sky Go app, with a Sky Sports subscription required. Highlights will be available on the BBC Sport website and app.
If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
