West Indies v England 1st Test day four report: England lose

Chase arrived at the Kensington Oval with a career bowling average north of 47, but played the role of languid assassin despite finding no appreciable spin.

England will look back in horror at their latest visit to Bridgetown, having been rolled over for 77 in the first innings and spent almost an entire wicketless day failing to part a seventh-wicket pair. But their capitulation at the hands of a functional off-break bowler who had expected to play a peripheral role was arguably the most surprising twist of all.

From 215 for four they were dismissed for 246 on the fourth evening, with Rory Burns' career-best 84 the scantest of rewards.

The task ahead of England as they started out 56 without loss was formidable - somehow find a way to shatter the world record chase by reaching 628 or hang around for two entire days for a draw.

First to have their say were Burns and Keaton Jennings, a rookie opening pair looking to answer questions over their long-term future as well as overcome more immediate travails.

Burns already had 39 to his name after a swift start on the third evening, quickly reaching his second half-century. His second scoring shot zipped involuntarily wide of third slip, but he was also able to dispatch a couple of half-volleys as he settled in.

He continued to mix positivity, and a decent range of strokes, with some dicey moments, but Jennings slowed to a crawl, scoring 14 in 84 balls. When he was finally tempted out, Alzarri Joseph slanting one towards the cordon, a thick edge was gratefully snaffled by Jason Holder.

England came within moments of reaching lunch without further loss, Jonny Bairstow scoring at a livelier rate than his predecessor, but faltered in the final over.

That had been handed to Chase, who must have been as surprised as anyone to see his fifth ball sneak between Burns' bat and pad to part the stumps. The Windies returned in high spirits, only briefly punctured when Joe Root was out to a no-ball.

Shannon Gabriel did everything right - generating pace, finding just the right amount of bounce and thudding the glove - except keep his boot the right side of the line. At least he learned his lesson, staying just behind when he banged one in at Bairstow, who brushed it away from his ribs and into the gloves of stand-in wicketkeeper Shai Hope.

Despite more speed and hostility from Gabriel it was the gentle offerings of Chase which continued to hurt England. Root was furious to donate his wicket to the 26-year-old, yelling in self-reproach and thudding bat against helmet, after angling a flat off-break to Darren Bravo at slip.

Holder cannot have intended to utilise Chase as long or as productively as this but watched on in delight as he duelled with Ben Stokes. There was a little back-and-forth between the pair, a poor lbw decision over-ruled by the batsman, who broke the shackles long enough to skip down the track and launch a sweet six down the ground.

It was Chase who won the day, though, drifting one into the knee-roll and winning a sounder decision this time. At 215 for five defeat was now certain, but the manner and the swiftness cast England in a poor light.

Moeen Ali fared worst of all, bagging his second duck of the match just before tea after wafting Chase fancifully to slip.

Chase took a wicket in each of his next three overs and, although he relied on some outstanding fielding on each occasion, the selection of shots was curious at best.

Jos Buttler cannot have expected John Campbell to leap to his left and claim a diving one-handed chance, but why was he whipping aerially through midwicket anyway?

Ben Foakes and Adil Rashid also perished to skilful catches and Sam Curran was last man out, stumped on the wander, as Chase celebrated a scarcely believable day in the sun.

A deflated Root acknowledged England were well below-par as they suffered just their second defeat in their last 10 Tests.

The England captain said on Sky Sports: "I'm bitterly disappointed. We're a far better side than we played this week and we've got to keep remembering how well we have played of late.

"The one thing I have to say is: fair play to the West Indies, they played extremely good cricket throughout the four days and they deserve a lot of credit.

"There will be a lot of questions about us and how we've gone about things but that shouldn't take away from them. We've got to make sure that we're a far better team than we have been this week, it's as simple as that."

On whether England had erred by omitting Stuart Broad and selecting two spinners, Root added: "I think after a Test match it's very easy to make selections once you've seen exactly how the surface is going to play.

"If you look at the way the game panned out over the four days, no one would have seen the pattern of play as it unfolded. We could have gone down a different route in terms of selection but it doesn't protect the way that we played."

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Windies captain Jason Holder reflected on a satisfying performance on his return to the side, having missed the tour of Bangladesh at the back end of last year with a shoulder injury.

He said: "It was a really good Test match and for me personally. It's been a while since I've been playing Test cricket and it was really good to come back into the game like this.

"Sitting out the series against Bangladesh was really, really tough and it was tough for the team.

"It was really good to come back into the team like this, I've been putting in a lot of hard work over the last couple of months to get myself back to full fitness and it's just really good to see the hard work paying off."

Speaking about his jubilant celebration after reaching a maiden double hundred on Friday, Holder added: "I've had a lot bottled up for a long time and I just had the moment there to express myself a little bit.

"It was a really pleasing feeling and really pleasing to know I can get the team out of a hole and help Shane to get to his hundred. Roston Chase bowled outstandingly well, I couldn't ask anything (more) of him."