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Thorpe chalks up unbeaten 119 to give England lead

Graham Thorpe compiled a magnificent unbeaten 119 for England to eke out a narrow first innings lead and gain momentum over the West Indies on day two of the third cricket test on Friday.

Left-hander Thorpe anchored England to 226 all out, and a first-innings lead of two runs. At stumps, Steve Harmison bowled a reckless Chris Gayle to have the West Indies 21 for one, and a lead of 19.

Daren Ganga on 5 not out and captain Brian Lara, on 1, carried the home team's hopes into the third day.

The home team's fast bowlers, led by four wickets for 70 from Fidel Edwards, were impressive throughout the first two sessions, but 34-year-old Thorpe squeezed the best out of the lower order as England battled from peril at 155-8 to add 71 runs for their last two wickets.

Simon Jones and Harmison combined to spend two hours at the crease as Thorpe pushed onto his 13th century in his 86th test. The Surrey man struck 13 boundaries, including one cracking straight drive off the second new ball to bring up his milestone. He faced 217 balls and took 5 hours, 12 minutes in scoring his second straight century at Bridgetown.

"Yeah, it was hard work," Thorpe said. "The team really needed it.

"We would have liked to have done better with the bat today, but we were in trouble as well. I was delighted to dig in for the team today and get up level with the West Indies in the end."

The early exchanges went the West Indies' way.

Edwards, who had claimed an early wicket on Thursday, further restricted England when it resumed at 20-1. Mark Butcher (5) added just two runs before his attempted square cut was caught at first slip by Chris Gayle.

It was a crucial boost for the local team, which two balls earlier had been deflated when Ramnaresh Sarwan missed Michael Vaughan's edge at second slip off Tino Best.

That miss was not to prove too costly as Edwards again struck to spare Sarwan's blushes.

England skipper Vaughan, 12 overnight and when he was dropped, progressed to 17 before he got a thin nick on a pull at a short delivery from Edwards. Wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs held a sharp catch over his head as England slipped to 33-3.

Once Edwards came out of the attack, the experienced Nasser Hussain and Thorpe slowly dragged England out of the hole.

Their fourth-wicket stand was worth 32, and they were within sight of taking lunch together when Corey Collymore broke through. He beat Hussain's drive between bat and pad, and leg stump was flattened. It was Collymore's first wicket of the series and England lunched uneasily at 73-4.

The final session was all England as Thorpe began to dominate as another large, predominantly English crowd got behind their team.

Left-hander Jones restrained his usual belligerence and lasted more than 14 overs and 64 minutes in adding 32 with Thorpe.
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