Spills and spirit as erratic Windies stay in the hunt

Jason Holder had three slips in.

It seemed the sensible thing to do. Rain had prevented play for most of the first session, the players were back out after lunch, the ball was still swinging, England were 64 for 5 and Shannon Gabriel was trying to break up the partnership between Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. Pressure time.

Gabriel ran in and angled the ball into Bairstow, who turned it into the vacant leg side for a single. Now it was time to turn the heat up on Stokes, who had weathered the moving ball and, on 24, was starting to look more comfortable.

Holder moved the fielder at second slip into the covers and waved Kyle Hope, fielding at third slip, towards the vacant spot.

Gabriel ran in once more. This time the ball reared up from the pitch and off the splice of Stokes bat straight to the man at third slip. Who wasn't there. Hope made a valiant dive to the left - where he had been standing moments before - and just got a hand to the ball. Ben Stokes, dropped. Different day, same tune.

Almost sheepishly, Holder shifted into reverse. No more cover, three slips. It still seemed the sensible thing to do.

Gabriel bowled again and Stokes punched the ball straight back past him and down to the rope at the Pavilion end. Take that. Holder kicked the ground in frustration. It would not be the only time. Sometimes you're ahead of the game and at others you're frantically trying to hang on, with all the success of holding water.

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Stokes was on 60. Easily the highest innings in a low-scoring match in which conditions so favoured the bowlers. Gabriel had the ball again. Coming around the wicket, he found enough inswing to beat Stokes' bat. Bowled. Except it wasn't. It was one of six no-balls in Gabriel's extras column.

This time, Gabriel quickly made amends, bowling Stokes two balls later - before he could do any more damage - with a quicker ball angled in.

At Edgbaston, mistakes were punished. At Headingley, they were balanced out by some outstanding performances. At Lord's, the bandaids were holding it together.

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They were required to patch things up once more when Shane Dowrich made an absolute hash of what should have been a straightforward catch; Toby Roland-Jones offering a thick edge off Kemar Roach. This time it was Dowrich kicking the turf. The jeers of the crowd were loud when the big screen showed the replay. They were even louder soon after, when Dowrich tripped and fell when tossing the ball back.

The wicketkeeper hasn't made double figures this series and hasn't convinced behind the stumps. Both the Hope brothers keep wicket and Jahmar Hamilton is waiting in the wings. Dowrich may struggle to keep his place beyond this tour.

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In the first Test of the summer at Lord's, South Africa's bowlers were pummelled by the free-swinging bats of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Someone should have shown West Indies that tape, before Broad teed off once more. The tenth-wicket partnership was worth 31. Like the 36 runs scored by Stokes after he was dropped, or the two scored by Roland-Jones after he was dropped, or the seven no-balls, it wasn't a major cost. No one went on to score centuries and England's first innings lead was a not insurmountable 71 runs. Small margins.

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The mistakes West Indies have made are not new. They were there in the warm-up matches - in Derby, where Gabriel bowled 24 no-balls, and in the first Test, where poor fielding and even worse batting proved to be critical. But England have dropped catches, too. And the fight shown at Headingley can still be seen in the way that, after kicking the turf, the players didn't drop their heads.

Roach's impressive five-wicket haul was punctuated by clever use of the swinging ball and the obliging seam movement. Gabriel's response to his no-ball to Stokes was swift and decisive. Holder may have erred with a fielding change early on but claimed four wickets off his own bowling and rallied his players.

And there is something of the gritty resolve of Headingley still hovering over this side. They haven't folded when England have landed punches. They've scrapped and dug in and while Shai Hope is at the crease, it would be unwise to write them off. Their lead may be slender but they still have wickets in hand and they are in the battle.

'We're here to fight, to put up a fight against the English," said Roach. "Came here to win, things we can brush up on but we're going to fight in the second innings."

This has been a Test of small margins.

And small margins could prove to be all that's required.