Sam Stevens: South Africa batsman Daryl Cullinan once hit the ball out of the stadium and into a frying pan of hot calamari during a game in 1995. Play was delayed for 10 minutes whilst the coating of grease was removed.

Also, play was delayed twice during a Lancashire-Sussex match at Lytham St Anne's in the same year, when excerpts from Holy Communion at nearby St Cuthbert's Church mysteriously came over on the ground's speaker system.

Ian Bell was run out in rather a careless manner yesterday evening, but Ballance and Root have looked secure between the wickets today (and I hope that's not a commentator's curse). Having exchanged careful singles for a while, Ballance finally gives it some welly when he slog-sweeps Big Benn over mid-wicket for six.

James: In the North Shields area of North Eastern England, sometime in 1980s, Percy Main CC were once 'murdered off' after police closed the ground due to a homicide having taken place on the pitch the night before!

England 157-3 (50 overs) - lead by 261 runs

Batsmen: Ballance 59*, Root 58*

Fall of wickets: 15-1 (Trott 4), 20-2 (Cook 13), 52-3 (Bell 11)

Bowling figures: Taylor 12-5-27-2, Roach 13-1-47-0, Holder 9-4-23-0, Benn 11-2-42-0, Samuels 5-0-13-0

First innings: England 399; West Indies 295

Full scorecard

Image source, Reuters

Jason Holder stands 6ft 7ins but he's a shade down on pace from the great West Indies giants of the 1980s. Fast-medium if you're being generous, medium-fast if you're being harsh. The Yorkshire pair plunder a total of three singles.

liamjhicks: We once had to stop play because a gazebo caught fire when the BBQ inside it was left unattended and it got a bit windy!

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I don't profess to understand what Alastair Cook and Peter Moores will do about a declaration. I would say, give yourself at least 30 overs tonight and 90 over tomorrow. Not many sides survive 120 overs."

A ripple of applause as England's score passes 150 and the Ballance-Root stand passes 100, but it was a rare glimmer of hope for the Caribbean side as Root edges Benn for a four past slip. I'll say this for West Indies, their over-rate is better today, 11 overs in 48 minutes so far.

Image source, Getty Images

Dan Davies, London: I genuinely think that knocking Cook down to third or even fourth would do him the world of good. Give him time to get his head straight.

Image source, Reuters

A double change in the bowling - indeed, it is Jason Holder to replace fellow right-arm seamer Kemar Roach. (I nearly typed "eight-arm seamer" - imagine facing the bowling of an octopus...) Ed Smith on TMS thinks West Indies need something quickly before the game is gone for them, but Ballance easily negotiates a maiden over. This stand is worth 97.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"In the first innings and in this innings he has been busy, he has been composed. He's always been in control of what he's doing and he's got the scoreboard ticking nicely."

Listen to TMS commentary via the audio icon (available in UK only).

Jack, Bournemouth: We had to stop play once to allow our cricket field to be used as an emergency helicopter pad!

England have won their first battle of the day, having seen off Jerome Taylor's first four-over spell, as West Indies turn to the towering left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, who's yet to take a wicket in this match. (If he played for England, I'm sure the inbox would be flooded with fans demanding his immediate replacement). Ballance picks off an easy single, while Root helps himself to a two to bring up his second fifty of the match from 68 balls. Well batted, young man.

Image source, Reuters

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I hope England really believe they can win. They haven't totally got to a position where the West Indies are out of it. But they are well in control and West Indies will be out of it some time around lunch. That's when you've got to put your foot on the accelerator, put your foot on their throat. I don't think Alastair Cook thinks like that as a captain."

Alastair Wood: During my time playing for Rickling Ramblers, we had play stopped due to a tornado and another time due to a swarm of wasps.

A discarded plastic bag blows across the outfield as Roach begins a new over, Ballance executes a careful dab past the slips for one to take the lead to 250. If you were a Windies fan, you'd wonder where the next wicket is coming from. Time for Holder?

Andy Stead: I remember one game at Headingley where after a morning and afternoon's drinking, an inebriated spectator in a full-height carrot costume encroached onto the field of play. The carrot, closely followed by stewards and police, ran around the pitch before tripping up over the boundary rope and headbutting the advertising hoardings. Due to being knocked out, play was delayed whilst the carrot was attended too by first aiders before being escorted from the ground by the local constabulary.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"These two batsmen look comfortable. A wicket sometimes comes from nowhere but it doesn't look like it will."

Listen to TMS commentary via the audio icon (available in UK only).

It's been the Gary Ballance Show for England so far, but now Joe Root comes to the party (copyright Duncan Fletcher) with a couple of sumptuous cover drives of his own, right out of the Gower textbook. He even holds the pose to aid any photographers who didn't get it straight away. Now he's one short of his fifty.

Image source, AP

Matt Roberts: It already seems evident that Trott doesn't have the technique to play as an opener - he looks vulnerable against the new ball. You could argue that he batted three previously so may have been exposed to a fair amount of new-ball bowling, but prior to the failings in the last Ashes series Trott already had a platform to build on. Give Lyth the shot he deserves.

Image source, Getty Images