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West Indies 411 (Brathwaite 160, Blackwood 102) and 136 for 5 (Brathwaite 56*, Leach 3-36) drew with England 507 for 9 dec (Root 153, Stokes 120, Lawrence 91) and 185 for 6 dec (Lawrence 41)
Bridgetown: Kraigg Brathwaite survived two sessions to lead West Indies to a second hard-earned draw of the series and set up a third-Test decider against England in Grenada.
Brathwaite followed up his monster 489-ball 160 from the first innings with a resolute and unbeaten 56* as West Indies secured a draw on the fifth day in Barbados.
The West Indies captain faced an astonishing 673 deliveries in the Test, the most ever by a West Indian in a single match, surpassing Brian Lara’s previous record of 582 balls against England at St John’s in 2004.
Only seven players since the end of timeless Tests in 1939 have ever faced more deliveries in a Test than Brathwaite’s extraordinary stint.
A second-innings bowling effort from England was spearheaded by Jack Leach (3/36) and Saqib Mahmood (2/21) to leave West Indies 135/5.
But the 30-year-old Brathwaite denied the visitors again and was congratulated by a frustrated England as Joe Root shook hands inside the final hour.
England had started the final morning on 40/0 with a lead of 136, and immediately showed their intentions for the day with an aggressive start from openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley.
But the one-day nature of the strokeplay on a fifth-day pitch saw wickets fall at regular intervals throughout the morning. And a trio of short-lived rain delays also hampered England’s progress throughout the first session.
The runs still flowed at a greater rate than the rain before lunch for England, with Crawley (40), Dan Lawrence (41), Ben Stokes (19) and Jonny Bairstow (29) helping England reach 185/6 by the time the third weather intervention forced lunch to be taken.
And England declared during the interval to leave West Indies facing the prospect of surviving for two sessions with the target realistically out of reach – a similar scenario to the first Test in Antigua a week ago.
