Honours even on first day

The opening day of the Third Test between England and West Indies was the most competitive of the series so far, with the tourists holding their own for long periods and honours very much even at the end of the day. England had started well and at lunch had looked well on course to repeat the stockpiling of runs they had achieved in the opening two games, but the West Indians through some hard-working and varied bowling fought their way back into the game and at several stages even held the upper-hand.

Despite heavy cloud cover and a hard, green pitch, Michael Vaughan followed precedent – only 8 times out of 71 previous Test tosses at the ground has a captain elected to field first (with 7 of those 8 games drawn). Vaughan, of course, had been in the headlines for the wrong reasons with his “Fredalo” comments dominating the build-up, and much speculation surrounded how he would be received by Flintoff’s home crowd. West Indies, meanwhile, brought back Shivnarine Chanderpaul, picked Fidel Edwards for the first time on this tour, and gave a Test debut to 23-year-old Darren Sammy, who became the first St. Lucian to represent West Indies. Out went the injured captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sylvester Joseph and, to the surprise of many, Daren Powell.

Jerome Taylor and Edwards were given the new ball, and while they got some sideways movement and plenty of bounce, they persisted in bowling too short, too often. Andrew Strauss, however, failed to capitalise once again, as on 6 he received a rare full ball from Taylor which pitched on leg and nipped back; Strauss got nowhere near it and Umpire Aleem Dar had no hesitation in raising the finger. With a top-score of 50 in his last 14 innings and Marcus Trescothick continuing to score heavily in domestic First-Class cricket, it will not be long before the England selectors will be weighing-up their options at the top of the order.

Vaughan, as expected, received a few boos as he walked to the crease, but many a frostier reception has been dealt-out down the years. As at Headingley, he looked far from convincing at the start of his innings, twice scoring boundaries to third-man off Edwards attempting to leave the ball, but as at Headingley Cook looked imperturbable. Edwards’ opening burst went for a-run-a-ball and Taylor’s for 5-an-over, and though Collymore and Bravo offered more control the batsmen were happy to play the ball on its merits. Sammy was given his first Test over before lunch and appeared overtly nervous, dragging the ball down repeatedly. England would have lunched comfortably on 112 for 1.

Immediately after the break, however, with Daren Ganga persisting with Sammy and Collymore, the ball began to move. Vaughan added just one to his lunchtime score of 40 before Collymore produced an excellent delivery which decked back and beat the batsman’s attempt at a drive to disturb the stumps. Kevin Pietersen, after a century and a double-century in his last two innings, made just 9 this time before top-edging a pull off Collymore straight to Dwayne Bravo at deep-square-leg. Cook, who had raced to 41 off 65 balls, was slowed considerably, managing just 19 off his next 55. When he did get a rare loose ball from Sammy, he failed to get on top of it and hit it straight to Bravo, once again well placed at gully. There was some doubt at first over whether the catch had been taken cleanly, but after consultation Dar and Brent Bowden gave the wicket, and TV replays showed a clear catch. Sammy, who had bowled beautifully after his opening over, had his maiden Test wicket.

Keen to capitalise on those three quick wickets, Ganga brought back Edwards who bombarded Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood with short-pitched bowling, while Sammy complimented him well at the Stratford End by once more keeping an excellent line. The batsmen played it well, however, and after putting-on 34 appeared to have weathered the storm. But Bravo and Taylor continued to probe, and a superb piece of bowling by Taylor accounted for Collingwood: two away-swingers dragged the batsman across his stumps, and an inswinger from wide on the crease trapped him in front. Dar again, correctly, raised his finger. Bell and Matthew Prior survived to tea, but West Indies had enjoyed almost certainly their best session of the tour, and with England 167 for 5, the last two batsmen at the crease, were right in the game.

Prior, as is his wont, started off quickly after tea, taking a particular liking to Bravo’s bowling. The Trinidadian all-rounder could not find the swing which had been so evident in the previous session, and the Sussex wicketkeeper capitalised. When Bravo was withdrawn from the attack, Bell, who had strolled to 28 off 77 balls, upped his pace with minimum of risk or fuss, bringing-up his half-century with a glide to third-man off Edwards. Once again, exactly as he had against Pakistan last summer and in the First Test at Lord’s, he showed that batting at six need not be the preserve of the dazzling strokeplayer.

Bravo, brought back in the 74th over, once again took a liking to the short-pitched attack, and was not deterred despite being pulled to the boundary by both batsmen. Eventually the strategy paid-off, when Prior in a virtual replay of Pietersen’s dismissal sliced one high to deep-square-leg. Morton was the fielder this time, and despite a swirling ball made no mistake. Prior had played a good hand, though his 40 would have seemed a failure by his previous standards.

Ganga waited two overs to take the new ball, for no apparent reason, though a minor injury to Bravo appeared the catalyst. Liam Plunkett hit two boundaries against the harder cherry but ended-up being rather embarrassingly dismissed by Edwards. The ball was an excellent one, however, hurled in at leg and swinging back onto middle. The batsman’s jump outside leg as the ball came down, however, was not an edifying sight. Stephen Harmison also took a blow on the helmet from the same bowler in the 4 overs that were available with the new ball. England closed on 296 for 7 with Bell on unbeaten on 77. He will hope to push towards another century tomorrow, and a score of 350 would be at the very least a competitive one on a pitch which, while not as spicy as the deck on which Pakistan imploded last season, certainly remains lively.

England 297 for 7
Alastair Cook 60, Michael Vaughan 41, Ian Bell 77*
Corey Collymore 2-44