Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

"It would now have to be a world record if West Indies were to win."

The highest successful Test fourth-innings chase was 418-7 by West Indies against Australia, external at the Antigua Recreation Ground in 2003.

Peter Henderson: We had arranged a friendly at RAF Lyneham. They were engine testing Hercules aircraft so it wasn't exactly idyllic but we got our innings over and lunch was taken. An officer then came over to stop the game as a senior officer's funeral was going to pass right by the pitch and us playing cricket wasn't appropriate. Negotiations took place and after a delay the other side batted on a completely different and inferior ground at the other side of the airfield! Has any other match involved the two sides batting on such different surfaces?

Edward Barron: 400 in first innings with a lower order collapse. 300 with four wickets in hand. Imagine if we had functioning openers! Formidable.

Clive Woodbridge: Surely KP would now have to come back as an opener?

Benn continues after drinks. I can only assume that Jerome Taylor must be as fragile as a Ming vase, as he's barely been seen today despite being by far West Indies' most threatening seamer. Jos Buttler moves to his third Test fifty with a big six over cow corner and a loopy single to backward point. Not to be outdone, Jordan gets in on the act with a meaty swing into the stands at long on. England are motoring, West Indies broken down on the hard shoulder.

Image source, Reuters

Sir Viv Richards
Ex-West Indies captain on BBC Test Match Special

If you were Alastair Cook, what figure would you think would be out of reach for West Indies?

"450. I'll put my faith on 450, the wicket ain't getting any better. It would be a tough proposition."

Ed Smith
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I like to think the fielder heard the no-ball call there, as otherwise it was one of the worst drops in the history of Test cricket."

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

The tension has gone out this game with alarming suddenness, like air hissing out of a punctured lilo. The strangely bathetic atmosphere is rather summed up when Holder oversteps, Buttler skies it in the air and Devon Smith, unaware of the no-ball, lets the catch straight through his hands. Jordan's off the mark with a pull to mid-wicket, and it's time for drinks.

England 299-6 (82 overs) - lead by 403 runs

Batsmen: Buttler 40*, Jordan 0*

Fall of wickets: 15-1 (Trott 4), 20-2 (Cook 13), 52-3 (Bell 11), 166-4 (Root 59), 226-5 (Stokes 35), 281-6 (Ballance 122)

Bowling figures: Taylor 14-5-42-2, Roach 13-1-47-0, Holder 15-5-50-1, Benn 25-3-100-2, Samuels 15-0-53-0

First innings: England 399; West Indies 295

Full scorecard

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"To be able to just play bowling around easily is a rare quality. Buttler has orthodox cricket shots, just like Maxwell for Australia, so they're very difficult to bowl at."

Anthony Donegan: England looking to set West Indies a very teasingly gettable 800 runs on the last day...

Jon Dunn: England have got to think about what the opposition would least like to do - and that's to have 2-3 overs before tea.

Jos Buttler is on the charge here - he tiptoes down the track and carts Sulieman Benn over the rope at cow corner with immaculate timing, clean as a whistle. After a very uncharacteristic 22-ball duck in the first innings, he has a much more Buttler-esque 40 off 42 balls.

Image source, AP

Chris Parker: Bell 100, Ballance 100, Root two 50s; and we apparently need KP in this middle order?

Kirstie: Why are they flying Moeen Ali out there when there's already good players NOT playing?

Amid that excitement, I forgot to tell you that Chris Jordan has arrived at the crease. Welcome Chris. Buttler keeps him off strike for the time being.

Evan Byrne: Sometime prior to lunch on day one, you posted a message from someone opining that the top three in England's batting line up needed to be jettisoned because they were clearly not good enough. Gary Ballance was mentioned by name. Given that he averaged 60.75 in Test cricket at number three before this match, and has responded well enough to his low first innings score, I would invite whoever sent the message to re-assert that Ballance needs to be replaced. (I assume that the replacement would be a certain Surrey player, who averaged 37.8 in his last eight Tests, to Ballance's 60.75...) One score of 10 does not a poor batsman make, otherwise we would now have to drop Ian Bell...

Who says Sulieman Benn doesn't have any variations in his locker - he reaches into his box of tricks and pulls out a chest-high beamer. Buttler swats it away to the third man boundary with the nonchalance of a man shooing away an unexpectedly low-flying pigeon.

Jonathan Agnew
BBC Test Match Special

"There are some people who wouldn't have had Ballance playing in this Test - he's scored four hundreds in nine Tests, so let's please stop all that nonsense. I think he's even a contender for opening."

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

Image source, AP

Gary Ballance's excellent innings is finally ended. He tries to smear Sulieman Benn into the mid-wicket stands but underclubs into a strong breeze and picks out Jermaine Blackwood on the rope.

A terrific innings though - and Ballance wears a look of justifiable delight on his ruddy face as he walks off.

Scorecard

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"West Indies will know Alastair Cook is a conservative captain - call it kidology, but you can tell they're making a conscious effort to slow the game down. They'll just slow the over-rate down as the longer the West Indies are in the field now, the better it is for them. They might just keep going with the old ball after 80 overs."

Leo Watson: Quality knock by Gary Ballance. Horribly out of form for months but shown real guts to dig this out. Brave and inspiring knock.

Andy Donley: The excellent Gary Ballance giving further evidence as to why England aren't in as bad a position as many insist.

Stoney: I remember when the bowling team applauded a batsmen scoring a century. Nowadays it's greeted with disdain.

Our first sighting of pace in this afternoon session - Jason Holder, who is precisely as tall as Sulieman Benn but considerably more rapid, has the cherry. Jos Buttler, his big beak smeared in white zinc cream, brings up the 50 partnership with a pleasingly unreconstructed mow down the ground. England are so comfortable here they're not so much in the driving seat as in the old armchair with their dressing gown and slippers on.