WI vs England Day 1

West Indies vs England Day 1
West Indies 311 - 9

Honours even. After losing the toss, England would have settled for 311-9. However, after being reduced to 101-4, WI must also be happy with the end-of-play score. Their two least experienced batsmen rescued them, with Devon Smith reaching his first test hundred and Ryan Hinds contributing an impressive 84. For England, the wickets were shared almost equally, with Hoggard, Harmison, Jones and Giles each taking two and Flintoff chipping in with one.
It was all England before lunch. Harmison and Hoggard knew that they needed to take advantage of the morning moisture and they were almost immediately successful. With only 17 on the board, Chris Gayle played on, trying to fend off a ball from Harmison that lifted more than he expected. Five runs later, Hoggard had Sarwan plumb LBW for a duck, and England were on top. These were two big scalps for the tourists, but the biggest one them all now made his way to the middle. Lara started sketchily, with a couple of scores between the slips. At the other end, Smith was riding his luck to launch some audacious shots. They settled down and had added 51 when Jones struck. Having troubled Lara on several occasions, he had him caught by Flintoff at second slip, playing an insipid shot to a well-directed lifting delivery.
Shortly after lunch, England's good position became very good indeed. Chanderpaul prodded unconvincingly at a wide ball from Hoggard and became the second batsman to play on. WI were 101-4 with their most experienced batsmen back in the changing room and England must have fancied their chances of a quick kill. Ryan Hinds had joined Devon Smith, and, although unquestionably talented, both lack experience at this level. After them, only the keeper and bowlers were to come. With England's quicks still looking threatening, the likeliest outcome for WI seemed to be a total somewhere under 200. Smith took several painful blows from Flintoff and Harmison, and it only seemed a matter of time before one of these made further inroads. Instead, Vaughan turned to his spinner, and the shackles came off. Ashley Giles is a better bowler than some would have us believe, but today he started awfully. His first two overs went for 20 and Smith & Hinds had the confidence to set about the rest of the English attack.
Shortly after tea, Smith reached his maiden test hundred and, at 223-4, WI looked in pretty good shape. Surprisingly, given his poor start, the man to pull them back again was Giles. First, he had Smith stumped - a casual piece of batting, but a fine piece of keeping by Read, as the centurion wobbled playing a simple defensive shot. For a while it didn't seem to matter. Hinds took over the lead role and played a series of exhilarating shots. With Jacobs looking secure at the other end, the partnership realised over 50 and a large total seemed likely, but then Giles struck again, having Hinds caught by Butcher from a poor sweep shot. Six runs later Jacobs holed out to Vaughan at mid-off to hand Jones his second wicket, and England were down to the tail. Flintoff quickly removed Sandford, caught by Trescothick at slip, and Harmison ended Best's entertaining bash courtesy of an iffy LBW decision. There was time for Harmison to almost decapitate Edwards with a beamer, but shortly afterwards the umpires decided it was too dark to continue.

Posted by David