text: Alastair Cook hung his head in disbelief after wasting a golden opportunity to end his long wait for a century before the man who seems destined to succeed him as England captain showed how to do it. There was agony for Cook on the third day of the second Test as he again fell short of the magic three figures despite looking as solid and unflustered at the crease as at any time in the two years since his last century. But the problems Cook had in finding fluency in his 211-ball 76 were put into stark perspective by yet another display of the rare class and maturity that has made Joe Root England’s outstanding batsman. Joe Root celebrates his century and is 118 not out at stumps on day three of the second Test against the West Indies . England's Root smashes a short ball to the boundary as West Indies keeper and captain Denesh Ramdin can only watch on . Root plays confidently off the back foot through the offside during a commanding innings once he got his chance on day three . Root and Gary Ballance run between wickets as they easily work the West Indian bowling around on a hot day in Grenada . Ben Stokes is giving a salute send-off by his West Indian rival Marlon Samuels after holing out for eight runs . This has been another slow, attritional Test in conditions that are hardly conducive to entertaining cricket. Yet as soon as Root took guard, batting at Grenada’s National Stadium was suddenly taken to another level. There were no problems for the Yorkshireman in reaching three figures — his sixth Test century and his first overseas — and his average has now reached a hundred since his return to the England team last summer. Here he took advantage of the solid platform that had been painstakingly laid by Cook and Jonathan Trott to give England a chance of going on to the sort of total that could put pressure on West Indies on the final day. Only a late burst of madness which saw Moeen Ali run himself out and Ben Stokes hit a Devendra Bishoo long-hop straight down deep square leg’s throat spoilt England’s day. They ended on 373 for six, a lead of 74, and Root and Jos Buttler will have to stick around for as long as possible on Friday if England are going to dictate terms. England captain Alastair Cook hits through the offside as he enjoys some width on day three of the second Test against the West Indies . Jonathan Trott cuts before the ball can reach Windies captain Ramdin's gloves on his way to 59 runs in the first innings . Cook congratulates Trott on his first Test half-century since returning to the England line-up in the morning session on Thursday . Trott plays the spinner behind point at the National Cricket Stadium in St George's, Grenada, on St George's Day . Opener Trott ducks a bouncer but leaves his bat hanging in the air from paceman Shannon Gabriel . Jermaine Blackwood clutches onto an edge from Trott off the bowling of Devendra Bishoo to end the opener's innings . Trott appears disappointed after the conditions appeared to favour the batsmen after they'd done the hard work early on . Root ’s fastest hundred for England, coming from 125 balls and including 13 fours, two sixes. This is his sixth Test century for his country. First 100 scored overseas. His previous high was 87 in Adelaide against Australia in 2013. In the past year he has scored four Test centuries . Root is the fifth England batsman  to score six consecutive 50s in Test innings. Since June 2014 he has scored 1,037 runs, averaging 103.7 . Root has featured in five of England’s past six Test partnerships of 150-plus runs. Alastair Cook has gone 34 innings and 697 days without a Test ton. Root said: ‘We had a blip towards the end but there is still plenty of batting left in that dressing room and fingers crossed we can kick on. Build a partnership with Jos tomorrow morning and hopefully we get a big score and only have to bat once. ‘My movements are very good at the minute. You go through blips in your career and the key now for me is to score as many as I can while I have this going for me.’ While Root was the star of the day, this was hardly a failure for an England captain who has now made four scores of 70-plus in his last seven Test innings, but Cook would have given anything to have been able to add those extra, elusive 24 runs. The brutal reality is that only Mike Brearley among England captains and opening batsmen has gone longer without a hundred than Cook’s 34 innings and he had the advantage of being considered the best leader of them all. It is now 697 days since Cook made the last of his record 25 Test centuries, at Headingley against New Zealand way back in 2013 when everything seemed well with the world of England and their captain. Here Cook and Trott recorded England’s first century opening partnership for 31 innings as England went about their quest for a decisive lead in workmanlike fashion on a slow pitch and an even slower outfield. The second-slowest half-century of Trott’s career, which was reached off 137 balls, was also one of the most important for a man who was in almost as great a need of runs as Cook after his double failure in Antigua. If Trott’s wicket came almost out of the blue when he drove the leg-spin of Bishoo to second slip then Cook seemed sure to make this the day when he finally threw off any doubts about him at the helm for another Ashes. Not only had he been dropped on 29 on the second evening but  he survived an lbw shout on 65 on Thursday by a whisker when the deserving Bishoo saw his review of Steve Davis’ not out decision deemed umpire’s call. Just when Cook was looking at his best after lunch, Shannon Gabriel went round the wicket, bowled short and wide and somehow forced Cook to inside edge an attempted cut into his stumps. He stood for a moment, hunched over his bat, before trudging off with a score worth perhaps 20 more because of the slowness of the outfield but one that to Cook will seem not nearly enough. Trott summed up the mood of frustration, saying: ‘Alastair and I were really pleased to put on a good start but you don’t spend all those hours in the nets to get fifties, you go there to get match-defining hundreds.’ When Ian Bell also chopped on to Gabriel, a sure sign of a slow surface, West Indies were back in the match and England’s nerves were starting to fray. Yet that was to underestimate the extraordinary potential of the two exciting and prolific young Yorkshire batsmen in England’s middle order. The lack of touch and confidence that Gary Ballance displayed in the World Cup now looks light years away as he has returned to the Test form that made him the ICC’s emerging player of 2014. Ballance made 122 in Antigua and carried on here, bringing an urgency to England’s innings that was lacking when they managed just 69 runs in an extended morning session. Cook stands and waits for the result of a West Indies decision review after an LBW appeal was judged not out by the on-field umpire . Cook is lucky the umpire gave him not out initially after the ball pitched outside off and hit in line but was only just clipping the stumps . Cook hits aggressively behind square as Blackwood braces himself at the National Cricket Stadium . Cook checks on the welfare of Blackwood after his well-hit pull shot struck the close-in fielder . West Indies bowler Gabriel is a blur as he comes into his delivery stride on day three of the second Test . Cook's off stump is rattled and the bails fly off after a wide delivery from Gabriel found the skipper's inside edge . Gabriel and his team-mates celebrate as Cook leans on his bat in disappointment after being dismissed for 76 . Cook trudges off the field after a solid innings that ultimately fell short of an elusive hundred for the left-handed opener . But if Ballance was busy then Root roistered along, reaching 50 off 69 balls and 100 off 125. He has been a class apart almost from the moment England recalled him, after leaving him out of the last Test of their Ashes humiliation, and restored him to the middle order where he belongs. This was his England record-equalling sixth successive Test score of 50 or more, a landmark shared with Patsy Hendren, Ted Dexter, Ken Barrington and Cook himself. No Englishman has ever made seven in succession. At least not until Root bats again. Together, Root and Ballance took England beyond West Indies’ score after tea and added 165 before Marlon Samuels found a way through Ballance. The late flurry of activity, culminating in Stokes being given a salute as a send-off by his bete noire Samuels, reduced England’s chances of going to Barbados next week one up. But while there is Root, there is hope. A second drag-on for the St George's Day play came for England No 4 Ian Bell, who also cut Gabriel onto his off stump . An annoyed Bell has to make the long walk back to the pavilion after being dismissed for a disappointing one run . Bell inspects the inside edge that orchestrated his downfall in the first innings here after bringing strong form into the match . Root came out firing and punished any short deliveries, needing no second invitation to dispatch Bishoo to the boundary . Onside or offside, it didn't matter for Root as he raced past his half-century, taking full advantage of a tiring bowling attack . Ballance hits the spinner through the offside as he too made the West Indies pay for wayward bowling . Ballance raises his cherry-covered bat after reaching his half-century, following up his second-innings 122 in the first Test . Root and Ballance touch fists as they leave the field with their wickets in tact for the tea interval . Ballance can hardly believe it as he is bowled by a looping delivery from makeshift spinner Marlon Samuels . Ballance looks up in disbelief after his excellent innings comes to an end on 77 runs from 188 deliveries . Moeen Ali fails to get off the mark as he takes off for a single but is rightly sent back by Joe Root . Ramdin completed the run-out after the throw from Blackwood as Ali's first innings back in the England line-up ends with a duck . Ben Stokes doesn't get a full piece of an innocuous delivery from Bishoo and skies his shot into the outfield . Stokes looks on in hope as his shot floats into the safe hands of Blackwood, who took his second catch of the day . After the pair clashed in West Indies first innings while Samuels batted, the all-rounder stood a saluted as Stokes left the field . Stokes looks at Samuels as the cheeky centurion stands at attention with his hat on his check for the send-off .
target: England are 373 for six at stumps on day three, 74 runs ahead of the West Indies first innings of 299 .
  Alastair Cook (76) and Jonathan Trott (59) put on an opening stand of 125 but couldn't reach their centuries .
  No 5 Joe Root was outstanding reaching a century at a strike rate of 80 and was 118 not out at stumps .
  Root's half-century gave him an England record-equalling sixth Test score of 50 or more - no-one has seven .
  Gary Ballance was out softly for 77 after Ian Bell played on for one. Moeen Ali ran himself out for a duck .