Honours even at Edgbaston

The West Indies and England fought hard on the first day of the second NPower Test at Edgbaston, with the game delicately balanced at the close. English opener Marcus Trescothick scored his second century of the summer and first of the series against the West Indies to bolster England's total of 313/5.

Michael Vaughan won the toss in a rare instance and elected to bat first. The West Indies included Corey Collymore and Jermaine Lawson for the injured Tino Best and out-of-form Fidel Edwards. Collymore and Collins took the new cherry but were unimpressive in their initial stints. England got to 71 before the first wicket fell, Strauss slashing at Lawson and caught behind for 24.

Double centurion of the 1st Test, Robert Key came to the crease and scored 29 runs before fishing outside the offstump to be caught behind off Collins. It was the lone highlight in the day for Collins, as he was hit for boundary after boundary, consistently delivering noballs in his innings spell of 16.2-1-75-1.

Captain Vaughan, who scored two centuries in the 1st Test, only got to 12 before pushing back to the bowler, Bravo, and after a juggle was caught and bowled - 150/3.

Marcus Trescothick had reached his half-century from 61 balls earlier and, with Thorpe as his partner, reached his century from 101 more, 162 in total. He progressed further to 105 and then succumbed to an obvious plan from Brian Lara and flashed at Dwayne Bravo outside offstump. All he succeeded in doing was give a quick chance to Lara at the lone slip, who tapped the ball up and took the catch on the second turn.

With the arrival of Flintoff Lara's tactics made a turn for the bizzare. With an extraordinary 8-1 offside field, Bravo was instructed to bowl outside offstump on a consistent basis. From there it became a game of who would concede first, Flintoff or Bravo.

The duel continued for a few more overs with Flintoff showing good restraint. Thorpe later got to his half-century at the other end, driving Collymore to the cover boundary. Eventually Collymore (18-3-85-1) would have the last laugh though, Thorpe under-edged onto his thigh pad and was caught behind for 61. Thorpe's knock include some sublime strokes - effortless and compact pulls, well-timed cuts and glorious cover drives.

At 262/5 the West Indies sensed a genuine opportunity to wrap up the England batting, but Jones and Flintoff played some superb strokes, Jones taking advantage of a poor spell from Collymore, and added 51 runs unbeaten at the close.

Play was ended 4.4 overs early after Jones (27 not out) and Flintoff (42 not out) accepted the offer of bad light. England will resume tomorrow on 313/5 after a fascinating battle of day one.

Match Summary:

England 1st innings 313/5 (85.2 overs)
ME Trescothick 105, GP Thorpe 67, A Flintoff 42 not out
DJJ Bravo 2/41

Posted by Liam