TEST CRICKET/England v West Indies: Already West Indies are beleaguered. By the evening of another sultry day, Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan were beating out a thrilling counterattack on the Edgbaston boundary boards to delight a packed house after Matthew Hoggard's new-ball spell had accounted for Devon Smith and Chris Gayle.

West Indies will begin the third day on 184 for two - still 382 in arrears and requiring 183 to avoid the follow-on - after Andrew Flintoff, with another brilliant, formidable century, Geraint Jones with a perky half-century, and some disruptive lower-order shenanigans had taken England to another massive total before Michael Vaughan's declaration 35 minutes before tea.

In all 437 runs in a ding-dong day: let no one in the crowd say they did not have their money's worth.

If Flintoff was a giant batting with a toothpick against little lads, Lara and Sarwan took on the best England could offer, and for the 36 overs they have been together ran them ragged, adding an unbroken 172 for the third wicket.

Hoggard had been fortunate but his often fragile confidence is on a high at present. In his first over, Smith, having drilled him through mid-off, attempted to turn him on the leg side, only for the ball to climb from the front edge of his bat high towards gully, where Ashley Giles got himself airborne - a feat in itself - and pulled down the catch with one hand. In his next over it was the turn of Gayle, also looking to work him on the leg side, but not yet familiar with the whereabouts of his leg stump, he left it exposed and was mortified to see the ball knock it back from behind his legs.

What followed, though, was batting of the highest calibre on a pitch with good pace and, for the most part, even bounce.

Batsmen have felt comfortable hitting through the line of the ball and in such conditions Lara and Sarwan are in their element.

There was a disconcerting moment early on for Lara when he was given a prolonged standing ovation and a handshake from Vaughan that seemed to have him mystified, but it turned out to be a duff statistic: he still had another 100 runs to go to reach 10,000 in Tests, although by the close yesterday, by which time he had reached 74, he was well on the way.

Only when Steve Harmison cranked up his pace - one delivery had Lara leaping and arching backwards as the ball passed his nose - and later, when Flintoff tempted him with width outside off stump and he was over-vigorous in his drive, was he in danger.

One bouncer from Harmison might have brought his downfall as he hooked and caught the ball on the toe end.

But these are short boundaries - unfairly short for spinners - and the ball cleared Robert Key, backpedalling desperately, and went for six.

At the other end Sarwan was adventurous but superb, throwing the bat at Harmison, and driving Hoggard and James Anderson, when he was allowed a brief if innocuous spell.

Hoggard's later spell was treated with disdain. The West Indies vice-captain will resume this morning only 13 short of his fifth Test hundred.

The first half of the day had belonged to Flintoff, the most charismatic England cricketer of the past two decades, for whom the well of superlatives is starting to run dry. On the first evening, after a generally hard-fought day, he and Jones had started to pull the game England's way so that yesterday, in particular against the second new ball, they just pushed the accelerator to the boards and sped away.

Overnight: England 313-5 (M E Trescothick 105, G P Thorpe 61).

England First Innings

A Flintoff lbw b Bravo 167

G O Jones c Jacobs b Collymore 74

A F Giles c Chanderpaul b Bravo 24

M J Hoggard not out 15

J M Anderson b Banks 2

S J Harmison not out 31

Extras lb6 w1 nb15 pens 0 22

Total 9 wkts dec (134 overs) ... 566

Fall: 1-77 2-125 3-150 4-210 5-262 6-432 7-478 8-522 9-525

Bowling: Collins 18 1 90 1 Collymore 30 6 126 2 Lawson 23 4 111 1 Bravo 24 6 76 4 Banks 27 3 108 1 Sarwan 12 0 49 0

West Indies First Innings

C H Gayle b Hoggard 7

D S Smith c Giles b Hoggard 4

R R Sarwan not out 87

B C Lara not out 74

Extras b9 lb2 nb1 pens 0 12

Total 2 wkts (40 overs) ... 184

Fall: 1-5 2-12

To Bat: S Chanderpaul, D J J Bravo, R D Jacobs, O A C Banks, C D Collymore, P T Collins, J J C Lawson.

Bowling: Hoggard 6 0 36 2 Harmison 6.2 0 30 0 Anderson 3 1 14 0 Giles 3 1 10 0.