England v West Indies: first Test, day five – live!

111th over: England 308-9 (Archer 19, Anderson 4) Holder spreads his fielders, assuming Archer wants to play shots and protect Anderson – understandable, though there’s not much between these two batsmen in terms of what we’ve seen in Tests so far. And Archer illustrates the point by taking a single from the second ball, before Anderson plays out four dots.

110th over: England 307-9 (Archer 18, Anderson 4) Ian Bishop suggests Wood was perturbed by a leg slip and expecting some short stuff; by the look of the field, Anderson might get some too. But instead, Gabriel goes at him – from around – with two full ones, then a straight one allows Anderson to glance around the corner and past leg gully for four!

Richard Woods emails in the overseas link – thanks very much.

What is Wood doing? Does he think he Jofra Archer? He backs away, looking to drive through the off side, and instead edges behind. West Indies need one more wicket; England’s lead is 189.

110th over: England 303-8 (Wood 2, Archer 18) “CricViz has an England win as slightly more likely,” emails Michael Meagher, “and feels there’s going to be a result on way or another”.

It was 50 percent Windies earlier this morning, I think. I’d still have them as slight favourites, but it won’t take much to tip it, and agree with England’s tail and their line-up, a draw is extremely unlikely.

109th over: England 302-8 (Wood 2, Archer 17) What do you do when things aren’t going your way? You bring yourself on. So here comes Jason Holder and he’s on the money right away, beating Archer outside off; there are certain players whose bowling speaks to their integrity – Ryan Harris was one, and Holder is another. But have a look! Holder’s second ball is full outside off, and Archer shuffles away from absolutely punish through extra cover for four! Of course he does!

108th over: England 297-8 (Wood 2, Archer 12) Gabriel’s first ball is speared way down the leg side, and it beats the dive of Dowrich to hurtle to the fence for four byes; imagine the sound of loud, beery cheers coming from the breakfasting crowd. Gabriel hasn’t quite found his consistency yet – he oversteps, but no one but TV notice, in the process of sending his fourth ball down the leg side; this time, Dowrich rescues him.

107th over: England 293-8 (Wood 2, Archer 12) After two dots, Archer flaps at a wider one, which flies just wide of the diving gully for four. They’re the only runs from the over.

106th over: England 289-8 (Wood 2, Archer 8) Right, here comes the wonderful Shannon Gabriel. England’s batsmen found him hardest to play in the winter, and he’s been the pick of the bowlers in this Test. But Archer – who’s yet to show the batting ability he’s meant to have – takes his first ball for a single, the a misfield allows Wood to nudge one too. The pitch is not misbehaving really, which makes you wonder at what score the balance of play tips towards England; I’d guess that anything up to 220 and West Indies are favourites, but much beyond will be deemed defendable. Anyhow, Archer adds a further single, then, with his fifth delivery, Gabriel nails one, moving it away from Wood’s outside edge. Good start for England.

105th over: England 286-8 (Wood 1, Archer 6) How do the batsmen go about this? Do they trust their techniques and bat, or look to thrash a few while they’re still out there? A leg bye and a single to Archer, turned down to fine leg, get the scoreboard moving, and England will feel ok with that start, both Wood and Archer feeling bat on bowl.

The players are with us, and Alzarri Joseph has the natural vector of disease in-hand.

“They have educated us, moved us and inspired us to change the world, encapsulating and personifying unifying, transformative power of sport,” tweets CC O’Hanlon, quoting me back to myself. “@DanielHarris gets a bit carried away about the English cricket team in his guardian live blog of the Test match against West Indies.”

Just Holding and Rainford-Brent. People have learnt important stuff because of them.

“Oh please please,” asks Jimmy in Munich, “the link for all us non-techy cricket lovers abroad … I’m on my knees with palms together … it’s Sunday.”

If someone could oblige, please.

There are many reasons I love the OBO, but this, from Neville Morley, encapsulates one: “A classics professor writes: Don Draper’s account of the etymology of ‘nostalgia’ is predictably wrong, in a revealing manner: it’s not about ‘the pain of an old wound’ but ‘the pain of homecoming’, extended to the longing for past innocence or certainty. Which of course includes the fundamental truth of my childhood, that the Windies are always magnificent and terrifying and will best England.”

That is extremely unsurprising to learn – Don is basically a cipher that allows us to engage with actually interesting characters like Peggy, Betty, Sally and Joan anyhow. And yes, in the end, West Indies win.

Nasser and Ian Bishop are checking out the pitch, which is slow but up and down – precisely the conditions for which you definitely, totally, absolutely, do not, under any circumstances, ever, want the cutters and fourth-innings bronca of Stuart Broad.

Michael Holding says this is a bigger day for West Indies than England. He can’t remember the last time they beat a higher-ranked team at home, and is as concerned about the batting as you would be. There’s no one you look to as the one to get it done, but there are various you think might get useful 30s and 40s, a few of which will be enough.

Email! “I remember the game here a couple of years ago,” says Digvijay Yadav. “England set 246, India fell short by about 60. If England set somewhere around 200, this could be a proper humdinger.”

What a strange and fun series that was. Moeen took four-fer that day, including Kohli and Rahane, India’s top scorers. He’s not here now, but it must just be that England have found their spinner: Dom Bess has been extremely impressive so far, but can he deliver when he’s expected to?

The final morning is a good time to take stock of what we’ve seen these last few days and, whatever happens out in the middle, chances are most of us will remember this Test for the integrity, candour and strength of Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent. They have educated us, moved us and inspired us to change the world, encapsulating and personifying the unifying, transformative power of sport. Let’s not let them down, folks.

To get us in the mood, here’s Gordon Greenidge performing one of the great final days, at Lord’s in 1984 – the first cricket I remember, now that you ask. West Indies might not have a batsman of his class these days, but they’ll not be chasing 344 either.

The likelihood is that West Indies will need to make in the fourth innings roundabout what England made in the first innings and, in the process, we will enjoy a thorough interrogation of Ben Stokes’ judgment. If he read the pitch correctly, then he was right to bat first, right to pick Mark Wood and right to pick Jofra Archer, so his team will win; alternatively, he ought to have made the most of the game’s best bowling conditions, ought not to have dropped Stuart Broad, and West Indies will beat England again.

“Nostalgia is delicate, but potent,” Donald Draper once surmised. “In Greek, nostalgia literally means ‘the pain from an old wound.’ It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.”

Ostensibly, these profundities were deployed to describe a slide projector, but like all good screenwriting this was a speech dripping with subtext: what Don was really getting at is the special, unique joy of an England batting collapse. And even by the standard, yesterday’s was a jazzer: first, after four days chasing the game, they inched into a decent position thanks to much work and struggle, then they carelessly tossed five wickets for 30 runs like they were so many womb sounds. So now we wait, ready for yet another glorious, infantilising regression of a final day, the beauty of Test cricket, the beauty of sport and the beauty of life right there inside us; this should be absolutely immense.

Play: 11am BST