West Indies resumed on 202-4, but the tourists got off to just the start they wanted when Ben Stokes tempted Jason Holder into nicking one behind to Ben Foakes, departing for 45 in the sixth over of the day.

Bonner and Joshua Da Silva stuck around with an unbeaten half-century stand to take the hosts to lunch without further loss at 271-5 and the former went on to record the second ton of his Test career early on in the evening session before finally falling to Dan Lawrence late in the day, with the hosts closing on 373-9.

And as if that was not enough for the tourists, they were left with concerns over the fitness of seamer Mark Wood after he was forced from the field with an elbow injury which meant he did not return after the lunch break.

• Scorecard | Day three in Antigua - as it happened
• Sky Cricket YouTube | Cricket videos | Cricket news

England struggle to press home after early breakthrough

In contrast to the previous day, England's bowling in the morning session was a lot more disciplined as they took advantage of the small amount of reverse swing on offer in the overs before the second new ball became available.

That was no more evident than when Stokes made the early breakthrough as he lured Holder into playing at one which was edged to Foakes, bringing the former West Indies captain's fifth-wicket stand with Bonner to an end at 79.

Joined by wicketkeeper Da Silva at the crease, though, Bonner dug in and was rewarded for some judicious shot selection by bringing up the fourth half-century of his Test career in the 82nd over. The fact it came off 147 balls underlined just how patient the 33-year-old had been at the crease.

By that point, England had already taken the new ball, doing so as they had the option to. However, despite being able to keep the hosts to a relatively pedestrian scoring rate they were unable to dislodge either of the batters before lunch.

The closest the tourists came was when Craig Overton thought he had snared Da Silva lbw on 16, but although the umpire originally signalled out it was immediately reviewed by the 23-year-old and subsequently he survived with the ball shown to be going down the leg side.

The duo then reached lunch having put on an unbeaten half-century stand and taken the West Indies to within 40 runs of England's first-innings total, even though the hosts had only added 69 runs to the overnight score in the morning session.

Bonner and co make tourists toil

That partnership was broken five overs into the afternoon session as left-arm spinner Jack Leach finally got the wicket his efforts deserved, snaring Da Silva lbw for 32 - and that was swiftly followed by new man in Alzarri Joseph (2) hooking Overton to substitute fielder Ollie Pope.

The loss of Wood due to injury strained England's bowling resources, though, and Bonner continued to be a thorn in their side, eventually bringing up his century by sweeping Leach for four in the first over after tea and bringing it up off a patient 257 balls.

At the other end, he had been well-supported by an obdurate 15 from 89 balls by Kemar Roach, although he was dislodged thanks to a smart piece of fielding from Pope to quickly return the ball for Foakes to effect the run-out after the batters tried to scamper for a single.

The Jamaican continued to defy everything the England bowling attack had to throw at him, perhaps leaving Leach the most frustrated when two reviews by England over not out lbw calls from the left-arm spinner against Bonner returned verdicts of 'umpire's call' for the ball hitting the wickets.

Bonner successfully reviewed an lbw call of Stokes which went against him while on 121 too, although he only added two more to his highest Test total before tickling part-time spinner Lawrence (1-2) to Foakes with 13 balls of the day remaining.

Veerasammy Permaul (26 not out) and new man in Jayden Seales, yet to get off to the mark, further frustrated England's bowlers by getting through to the close with one wicket still intact, although the run-rate was down to just 1.90 per over as they walked off at the end of the day.

Just how much work England's four remaining frontline bowlers got through in Wood's absence was shown in their figures, with Leach (1-79) bowling a marathon 43 overs so far yet at the same time keeping his economy rate at 1.84 with an impressive 20 maidens.

Chris Woakes (1-88) and Overton (2-85) have both got through more than 30 overs, while Stokes (2-42) has bowled 28 - again, though, with a miserly economy rate of just 1.50 and seven maidens.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Wood will be able to return for the final innings and allow England captain Joe Root to share some of the load.

What they said

England interim head coach Paul Collingwood, speaking to BT Sport

"The attitude in the field on a pretty placid pitch was exceptional. Taking five wickets for 170 runs in a day on a pitch like that, I think you have to be pretty pleased. Sometimes people expect you to bowl teams out quickly but the surface is pretty unresponsive. There is no pace and no turn.

"You have to find ways to build pressure and I think we did that well. We tried to get reverse swing but when the ball gets soft it can be difficult. We are still in the game.

"Of course we missed [Mark Wood]. When you have a 90mph-plus bowler, you want him in the ranks. Injuries happen in sport and we will have to assess that and see how he pulls up. You don't want to go back out there and make it worse."