England captain Joe Root defended his decision to declare on the final day of the drawn 2nd Test against the West Indies in Barbados. The Test match ended in a draw after the home side managed to bat out 65 overs on the fifth day after they were set a target of 282 runs.

West Indies ended the fifth day on 135/5 with captain Kraigg Brathwaite remaining unbeaten on 56 in 184 balls in 245 minutes. Jermaine Blackwood played 84 balls for his 27, while Joshua da Silva played 63 balls for his 30* as both teams shook ends to draw the Test, meaning the series still remains 0-0 with one more Test to go.

Before that, England had declared their innings at 186/5 at lunch on the final day, leaving their bowlers only 65 overs to bowl out the West Indies batters and win the Test. Talking about the declaration, Root in a post-match interview, sounded as though he did not want to give the hosts even a sniff of a chance.

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"It's always a tricky one isn't it ... trying to weigh that up. Just with how small this ground is and how strong the wind was, you don't want to ... give too many overs. To look back in hindsight, could we have pulled out 10 overs earlier, would it have made much difference?” he said.

The third and final Test will begin in Grenada on Thursday and Root took plenty of encouragement from his team's performance in a match where they were mostly the better team.

"It's just really pleasing to see us make a substantial first-innings total for the first time in a long time. Hopefully, the guys have gained a lot of confidence from it and we can replicate it again and again and again,” Root said.

Root praised spinner Leach, who racked up 94.5 overs in the match on a flat pitch and said: "It's really pleasing to see Jack play the way he has. You can see how much he enjoys it out there. He's bowling with great control and looks threatening. It's great to see him find his feet and look comfortable at this level."