Stokes, Broad star as England level series against West Indies

Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad inspired England to a 113-run victory over the West Indies at Old Trafford that has levelled their three-Test series at 1-1.

Stokes did the damage with the bat early on the final morning to blast an unbeaten 78 from 57 balls before England declared at 3-129, giving themselves 85 overs to bowl out the West Indies, who had a target of 312.

Broad then ripped through the top order with three wickets to leave the Windies reeling at 4-37 after just 15 overs, putting England on track for the win.

Shamarh Brooks (62) and Jermaine Blackwood (55) delayed England's advance and pushed the game late into the fifth day, as each hit half-centuries in adding 100 runs for the fifth wicket.

But Stokes made yet another timely intervention, getting Blackwood to glove a short ball that was well caught by a diving Jos Buttler on the stroke of tea.

Windies captain Jason Holder added 35 before he was bowled by Dom Bess to expose the tail.

Bess claimed the final wicket when Ollie Pope snared a brilliant rebound catch at short leg to dismiss Kemar Roach with just 15 overs remaining.

With the third and final Test starting on Friday night, Stokes sent a scare through the England camp when he pulled up and failed to complete an over towards the end of the game, but Stokes brushed aside concern.

"I'm fine, the body started to get quite stiff," Stokes said. "I said to Broady that I was feeling quite stiff, what do you reckon, and he said stop.

"I'll give everything to the team, whatever's asked of me.

"We've found a method within our attack to be aggressive when things aren't happening."

Windies skipper Holder was left to lament his side's poor first innings with the bat, when Broad was again the chief destroyer, with the second new ball as the visitors lost 6-48.

"I'm a little disappointed with the way we batted," Holder told the BBC. "Yesterday's evening batting performance probably really set us back.

"If we were batting into today's play we would have been best set to save the game or even give ourselves a chance to win."

Stokes was dropped on 29 by John Campbell and he raced to his 50 from 36 balls to set a new record as the fastest Test half-century by an England opener.

The knock took his match tally to 254 runs after his patient 176 in the first innings, and England captain Joe Root was full of praise for a player he dubbed "Mr Incredible".

"We are watching a player at the peak of his powers, at the peak of world cricket, delivering time and again," said Root.

"We have to savour that and understand we are in the presence of greatness.

"Ben keeps developing his game and improving all the time. Credit to him, he really has taken every opportunity to make himself a better player.

"Throughout the game you've seen how destructive he can be when he needs to be and also when he needs to bat time and play to the situation, he can do that too."

Both sides will have decisions to make on the make-up of their side ahead of Friday's third Test. England will have Jofra Archer at their disposal after his biosecurity breach ruled him out of this match, while Broad's impressive performance may make him difficult to drop.

The West Indies will likely need to rotate their fast bowlers after Shannon Gabriel struggled through this Test, while the impact of Roston Chase's part-time spin will likely see Rahkeem Cornwall come into consideration.

England wicketkeeper Buttler also remains under scrutiny with a string of poor performances with the bat, although his first-innings 40 in this Test may have brought him some breathing room.

The entire England v West Indies Test series can be live streamed for free in Australia on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app