Windies frustrate England attack

West Indies made light of an injury to captain Chris Gayle to nullify England's victory bid, restricting their opponents to just three wickets on the third day, which the hosts ended on 349 for four.

Gayle experienced a bittersweet afternoon as he was forced to retire hurt with a hamstring strain, sustained as he was running the single to reach his 10th Test hundred.

West Indies were 195 for three at that point, still 152 runs adrift of avoiding the follow-on, but an unbroken 145-run stand between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash helped things drastically improve.

England were buoyed by two breakthroughs in the opening hour but it was a case of missed opportunities on another friendly batting surface.

Recalled left-arm spinner Monty Panesar was the pick of the five-man attack and might have had a handful of wickets on another day. If fortune was against him, however, it appeared to be on the tourists' side when Gayle was forced from the field, after taking advantage of an Owais Shah misfield.

There was not a run on when left-hander Gayle turned the ball to the leg side but the fumble encouraged him to scamper through. He suffered the discomfort as he stretched to make his ground, although had Shah hit the stumps at the non-striker's end, instead of narrowly missing, England would have claimed a fourth success.

They did so when Lendl Simmons' error of judgment handed Panesar a second victim on his Test return. Simmons, making his Test bow on his home ground, pressed forward and was struck on the pad in line with middle stump to increase England's hopes of gaining a sizeable advantage.

Earlier, debutant Amjad Khan claimed the prize scalp of Ramnaresh Sarwan as his maiden international wicket, lbw in his first over of the third day.

Another of the pacemen, Stuart Broad, ensured Sarwan was in early on the third morning when a short delivery rushed nightwatchman Daren Powell and ballooned off the splice to gully in the fourth over.