Mark Alleyne: enforced the follow-on Photo © CricInfo Ltd.

The last time an English side beat Barbados at the Kensington Oval was in 1954, but after a 47-year gap Mark Alleyne's side is poised to inflict an historic defeat after enforcing the follow on in this fourth round Busta International Series match.

The 10th wicket fell with the home side still trailing England A's first innings by a massive 194 runs and Alleyne lost no time in putting them again in despite his bowlers increasing fatigue after they had been hard at it for the best part of seven hours.

All the England A seamers had bowled 19 overs each in the first innings, but it was Jonathan Lewis who Alleyne turned to open the second innings account after producing the best figures, 3-51, of the pack.

The young Gloucestershire paceman, who has made an excellent impression with his control since he made his debut last week against Guyana, struck quickly with a blinding catch off his own bowling to dismiss the powerful Philo Wallace. Wallace hit the ball with the might of a heavyweight boxer but Lewis' reflexes won him the bout when he dived to his left and took a superb two handed catch to send Wallace on his way for a duck.

From that point, Barbados switched back into defensive mode and, by the close, had edged their way cautiously to 27 for one, still 167 runs behind England A. Alleyne held his seamers back in preparation for the day ahead with Chris Silverwood not called upon and Tudor bowling just three overs.

"We have played pretty well and have done all the basics well but it will be tough tomorrow. If we win the game outright we will have done phenomenally well," said vice-captain John Crawley.

"They will look to bat all day and not look to take too many risks. Ian Bradshaw played well for his century and struck the ball well but there was no one at the other end to help him save the follow on.

"The guys had bowled 19 overs at the end and were getting tired so it was a case of backing the others and saving our seamers until they were a bit fresher so we can hit them hard tomorrow morning.

Twelve wickets fell on the second day's play and today home supporters, paying up to BD$10 (around £3.50) for a day's entertainment, saw another eight erode as England A made their way to a first innings lead and possible victory. Among them was Mark Alleyne's mother Hyacinth, who had been specially invited by the President of the Barbados Cricket Association, Stephen Alleyne, to spend the day as his guest.

There may have been a couple of awkward moments for her as Barbados' long standing record against the tourists started to look precarious, in a ruthless manoeuvre spearheaded by her son but a victory on the final day will give the England A captain a proud mention in the Kensington Oval history books on his first first-class appearance at the ground.

Earlier, England A management confirmed that Chris Schofield had been reprimanded for his behaviour on the field after being given out on the second day but added it was an internal action, and not prompted by any intervention by match referee Dennis Depaiza.

"He assured us it won't happen again and if it does, he knows he is in serious trouble," said manager James Whitaker.

Schofield had brandished his helmet at wicketkeeper Courtney Browne after the umpire's decision that the catch behind had been good and ran off the field to a chorus of boos from a section of the crowd.

© CricInfo Ltd.