BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - England, after leading by a meager two runs on first innings, had West Indies on 21 for one at the end of an enthralling third day of their third Test match at Kensington Oval here today. Graham Thorpe scored his 13th Test hundred to help England recover from a perilous for 90 five at one stage to end the innings at 226, in reply the Windies first innings of 224. West Indies looked in control of the match when England subsided to 155 for eight just before tea, but Thorpe in partnership with Simon Jones and Steve Harmison brought England back into contention with defiant batting. Thorpe took advantage of a flagging West Indies attack to hit an undefeated 119 that he rated one of the best innings of his life. The England left-hander batted for nearly 3-1/4 hours, faced 217 deliveries and struck 13 fours. "I do not think I will ever go above what I did against South Africa at The Oval last year, but this is right behind it," Thorpe told reporters at the post play news conference. "It was tough day and the team needed a performance from someone and I was glad that I could put my hand up and do it. We were under pressure." Thorpe added: "At the beginning of the day, we were looking to bat well and get some sort of a lead, but it did not happen. The West Indies bowled well and kept the pressure on us all day. "It was not until the last two partnerships that we were able to open up and get level with them which is a huge bonus just to get close to them." Fidel Edwards was the most successful West Indies bowler with four wickets for 70 runs from 20 overs, Pedro Collins, his brother, captured three for 60 from 23 overs, and Tino Best took two for 26 from 14 overs. With 10 overs available before stumps were drawn and the light fading fast, Gayle chose bravado over discretion. He had struck three consecutive fours off Harmison and then essayed an ill-advised off-drive and was bowled for 15 before umpires Darrell Hair and Rudi Koertzen offered light to Lara, not out one, and Daren Ganga, not out five. Lara had earlier chosen to give Gayle an extended bowl after the lunch interval when the momentum was clearly with the fast bowlers. He then shared four overs between Gayle and Ryan Hinds at a key period after the tea break that allowed Thorpe to manipulate the bowling and take the sting out of the attack. The West Indies captain and his side had gotten it right in the morning period, after England resumed from their overnight position of 20 for one. Although West Indies were set back when Ramnaresh Sarwan muffed a chance offered by England captain Michael Vaughan at second slip in the third over of the day, the home team were soon rejoicing when left-hander Mark Butcher chased a short, rising, wide ball from Edwards, top-edged and was caught at first slip for two. With Vaughan's confidence low after a string of modest scores, Edwards and Best continued to get under his skin with a mixture of short and full-length balls before the England captain, trying to free himself, hooked at a short, rising ball from Edwards, top-edged and was caught behind for 17. England were 33 for three and Lara turned to Collins and Corey Collymore, his two most capped bowlers, to relieve his young bucks. They too, kept up the pressure under Thorpe and Nasser Hussain. Occasionally, the batsmen would explode with an enterprising stroke and England got moving again. With lunch approaching and Collymore gaining appreciable movement through the air and off the pitch, Hussain tried to hit a full length ball straight and was bowled for 17 to leave England on 73 for four at lunch. After the interval, Lara started with Gayle and Best, who made the breakthrough, when Andrew Flintoff was caught at cover for 15 essaying a powerful back foot drive to leave England 90 for five. England inched past the 100-run mark with Gayle wheeling away at the Marshall End and Lara employing his fast bowlers from the Garner End. Edwards brought back for a second spell had Chris Read lbw for 13. With the tail exposed and Gayle not making any headway, Lara turned to an all-pace attack. Collins struck twice in the space 17 balls to remove Ashley Giles caught at third slip for 11 and Matthew Hoggard lbw for zero to restrict England to 163 for eight at tea. After the break Best managed to have Jones caught at forward short leg for four before England reached 200, but Thorpe and Harmison continued to grind away and not even the second new ball in the hands of Edwards and Collins could deny them as they pushed the visitors closer and closer to safety. Collins eventually ended the innings when Harmison was bowled for three to leave West Indies a nerve jangling period before the close. But Gayle failed to keep his head and lost his off-stump too. SOURCE: WINDIESCRICKET.COM