England 221-5 (Kevin Pietersen 78, Ian Bell 76*, Tino Best 2-37) trail West Indies (Denesh Ramdin 107*, Best 95, Graham Onions 4-88) by 205 runs.

Tino Best created a world record by thrashing 95 runs while batting at no.11 and Denesh Ramdin banged a century as the duo frustrated England in the third Test.

West Indies piled up 426 runs in their first innings and England managed 221 runs for the loss of 5 wickets at stumps on the fourth day.

The rain affected the third and last Test of the series which is being played at Edgbaston, Birmingham and will come to an end on June 11, 2012 as only two days play was possible earlier in the scheduled four days.

Earlier, West Indies started their first innings on Sunday, June 10, 2012, which was the fourth day of the match at 280 for the loss of 8 wickets in 98 overs. Denesh Ramdin and Ravi Rampaul were in the centre for 60 and 2 runs respectively. The latter was caught by the wicketkeeper Matt Prior off Steven Finn on the third ball of the first over without adding any run to his overnight score.

The 9^th wicket of the visitors was lost at 283 when Tino Best joined in with Ramdin in the centre. Best had some different ideas and started off by collecting 9 runs in the 101^st over with a couple of fours. That was the beginning of a great innings as he dispatched many loose balls to the boundary later on and Ramdin got a life when he was dropped by Kevin Pietersen in the gully off Steven Finn at 69.

Tino Best continued his assault and smashed his fifty on the last ball of the 109^th over with a single with the assistance of 10 fours whereas Denesh Ramdin added just 12 runs to his overnight total at that point. The latter opened up in the 118^th over, he dispatched a couple of fours and hammered his century on the third ball of the 121^st over.

Ramdin was thrilled after he completed his hundred, took out a paper from his pocket on which “YEH VIV TALK NAH” was written and waved it towards the commentary boxes. That was in fact, a reply to the comments of the great West Indian batsman, Sir Viv Richards who passed on some negative remarks about the performance of Ramdin after the conclusion of the second Test.

Tino Best surpassed the previous record of 75 runs by scoring 76 on the third ball of the 123^rd over. It was held by Zaheer Khan against Bangladesh in the Dhaka Test played on December, 10, 11, 12 and 13, 2004. Best scored 11 runs in that over with one six and one four and rushed to 93 at the end of the 129^th over. He was unlucky and fell short of five runs from his maiden ton but took the Caribbeans to a respectable total of 426.

The 10^th wicket partnership produced the third highest contribution of 143 runs which was just 8 runs short of the record in Test cricket. Denesh Ramdin remained unbeaten for 107 off 183 balls with 9 fours as Tino Best powered 95 from 112 deliveries which comprised 1 six and 14 fours.

Graham Onions was the highest wicket taker with four, whereas Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn shared three wickets each.

England had a horrible start of their first innings as they lost their three top order batsmen, Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott for just 49 runs in 14.2 overs. Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell got together at the crease and started the repair work when the things were looking difficult for the home side.

Pietersen initiated the aggression by getting a couple of fours in the 18^th over, Bell did not waste the scoring chances either and the first hundred of the innings was completed in the 27^th over. Pietersen added another 10 runs in the 30^th over with two fours as the play had to be stopped due to bad light after one over.

Ian Bell took charge after the resumption of the play with two boundaries in the 32^nd over followed by three consecutive fours in the 34^th over. Both of them were well settled and dispatched their half centuries in the 36^th over. The fourth wicket association contributed 137 runs in 30 overs when Kevin Pietersen was caught in the slip by Darren Sammy off Marlon Samuels for 78 from 81 balls with 1 six and 11 fours.

Jonny Bairstow played a short innings of 18 runs before he was clean bowled by Tino Best for 18. Ian Bell was at the crease with 78 and Steven Finn has yet to open his account as England scored 221 runs in 58 overs with five wickets in hand at the end of the fourth day’s play.

Tino Best excelled with the ball as well by taking two wickets whereas Ravi Pampaul, Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels held one wicket each.

The match has lost its interest due to the wastage of a couple of days play by rain and is heading towards a draw.