YESTERDAY morning, Corey Collymore's wife turned down the offer of a taxi ride from Ramside Hall to Riverside claiming that her husband's batting was not worth the effort.

Six hours later, as Collymore was dismissed to end a last-wicket stand of 58 in partnership with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, her mood will have been similar to that of England's cricketers. The tailender's unexpected resistance represented a golden opportunity missed.

Had the home side wrapped things up when they had their opponents reeling at 229-9 midway through the afternoon, it is just about conceivable that they could have been boasting a first-innings advantage this morning.

As it is, they will resume some 166 runs in arrears on 121-4 after taking more than an hour-and-a-half to remove a batsman who averages just seven in Test cricket, before casually throwing away three of their own wickets in the final three overs of the day.

With further showers forecast for the final two days of a match already ruined by rain, England's hopes of victory have surely been extinguished by some unforeseen West Indian spirit.

Given that even Andrew Strauss has made runs on this wicket - the under-pressure England opener celebrated his first half-century of the summer as he finished unbeaten on 72 - the tourists' defiance needs to be placed in context.

But after every man and his dog accused the West Indies of lacking both bottle and technique at Headingley and Old Trafford, the appearance of some belated belligerence was welcome indeed.

And while there was plenty about both sides' batting that was wretched, it was impossible not to admire the efforts of the estimable Chanderpaul, whose unbeaten 136 formed the backbone of his side's 287-run total.

While there is little to appeal to the purist in the crab-like Chanderpaul, his tenacity shines like a beacon within the morass of mediocrity that serves as the West Indies' batting line-up.

Just as last weekend's century failed to prevent England claiming victory at Old Trafford, so this weekend's effort - Chanderpaul's 16th Test hundred - will be insufficient to earn the tourists the victory they so desperately crave.

For six resilient hours, however, it at least provided a fleeting reminder of what the West Indies used to be. Not technically of course - Sir Viv Richards must wince whenever he sees the Guyanan shuffling into position at the last possible opportunity - but in terms of the bloody-minded competitiveness that the great touring sides of the past had in spades.

The current crop would be a sorry lot indeed without Chanderpaul - with him, they can at least lay claim to competitiveness.

Even that might have been a forlorn hope had Ian Bell taken a catchable opportunity at third slip when Chanderpaul had scored just nine on Saturday afternoon, but from that point onwards the 32-year-old patiently set about frustrating an England attack that gradually ran out of ideas.

With Steve Harmison continuing to strive for the venom of old on a feather-bed of a pitch, and Matthew Hoggard remaining understandably rusty after missing two Tests with a groin injury, it was left to Ryan Sidebottom to form the focus of a bowling line-up that will have to be more incisive when India arrive on English soil later this summer.

At the start of the season, Sidebottom's ambitions probably amounted to little more than retaining his place in the Nottinghamshire attack. This morning, despite missing the opening Test at Lord's, the 29-year-old finds himself as England's leading wicket-taker behind spinner Monty Panesar.

Perhaps that says as much about the failings of his fellow seamers as it does about the enduring qualities of a yeoman who was hastily jettisoned after his first taste of Test cricket in 2001. But to denigrate the extent of Sidebottom's achievements is to overlook the qualities that he has brought to the England side this summer.

At Headingley, the Yorkshireman stood out simply by landing the ball on the same spot with successive deliveries. Yesterday, as England strove to make the most of the helpful climactic conditions, he excelled by inducing more aerial movement than his team-mates.

His reward was a maiden five-wicket Test haul that was confirmed when a flummoxed Fidel Edwards failed to deal with the inswing that demolished his off stump.

The earlier dismissals of Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin had also involved significant movement but, predictably enough, the West Indian batsman were also complicit in their own downfall.

The same was true of Dwayne Bravo, who chopped onto his own stumps in the sixth over of the day, and Daren Powell, who senselessly top-edged an attempted pull off Harmison, but accusations of laxness could hardly be levelled at Collymore.

The number eleven accumulated a valuable 13 before Panesar trapped him leg before to claim his first wicket of the game, with his obduracy forcing England's batsmen to adopt an aggressive outlook from the off.

Attack proved to be the best form of defence for Strauss, who strode to the crease with his position under threat following a run of below-par performances that began at the start of the ill-fated Ashes tour of Australia.

He ended the day just 28 runs short of a century, and if his shot-making remained far from fluent, his intent was unquestionable. His first 20 runs came from fours, and by the time he brought up his half-century, his boundary-count was already into double figures.

Unfortunately, for the home side, similar displays of aggression proved less successful. Alastair Cook's fine run of form ended when an attempted leg glance off Edwards nestled in the gloves of Ramdin, and Michael Vaughan perished when an attempted drive flew to Bravo at second slip.

Hoggard's waft at Collymore was reckless in the extreme - the nightwatchman lasted just four balls after being pushed up the order - but even his impetuosity was nothing compared to that of Kevin Pietersen.

England's man of the series had intended to fill his boots in the final Test, instead he bottom-edged an attempted pull to Ramdin to depart for a duck. Like so many others, he was left to rue an opportunity that had passed him by