England Take Charge - Eventually

Day 1 Scoreboard

On a day when the West Indies lost the toss and were sent into bat under grey skies and suggestions of moist still retained in a pitch starved for sunlight in the last month, they could have, quite reasonably, collapsed and been out for less than a hundred. Facing what the English press regards a the best seam attack in the world - somewhat conveniently oblivious thinking in the light of tourists soon to arrive in their country - the youth of their top order, the age of their middle order and the recklessness of their long tail didn't look to make this much of a contest.

Of course, then there's Shiv Chanderpaul. The ugly duckling who never became a swan and the ultimate survivor who was never voted off the Caribbean islands, has survived loss of form, outspokenness against Julian Hunte's inept Board, a generation of bowling opponents which have included Warne, McGrath, Muralitharan and Akram  and the worst set up technique in the history of ball sports ... but all have all failed to defeat this little, dark eyed man man from Guyana. That being the case, England's four bowlers were unlikely to do so.

Chanderpaul made 87 not out

The disappointing part of the day was that the West Indies through opportunities away. In the first two sessions, they lost a brace of wickets early and the fought back - in the first session through Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo and in the second, it was Marlon Samuels who worked hard with the little left hander. Both partners were lost unnecessarily. Bravo ran on what was his call when Chanderpaul pulled the ball behind square, where it was half stopped but watched the ball and ignored his advancing partner. He touched down, back in the safety of his crease just as Bravo reached him. Despite Matt Prior's ugly throw to Swann at the bowler's end, Bravo was run out by the length of the pitch. Its fine to say it was Chanderpaul's only blemish but it was a major one. Samuels left of his own making after a partnership of 81. He slashed a drive at Stuart Broad, hitting it straight to the new boy Jonny Bairstow at point. It was a lazy end to a responsible innings but symptomatic of Samuels career at Test level where he has rarely lived up to his apparent potential.

Earlier in the day, Adrian Barath had played a restrained hand opening the innings, choosing his shots carefully, especially the drives which have so often been too expansive and led to his downfall in slips. He still had a high percentage of boundaries in his innings but in between let a lot of very good balls from Jimmy Anderson go by. Immediately after lunch, all restraint forgotten, he drove at Broad, was done for length and Anderson held a great catch in the gully. Bringing it down from above his head, he caught the rebound as he fell.

Darren Bravo looked superb

Keiran Powell and Kirk Edwards were rolled by Anderson in his first nine over spell, during which he was close to unplayable. He bowled a series of deliveries to Powell which rolled across the left hander and once committing him to letting the ball go, bent one back at him which he virtually left and was bowled. Edwards was beaten by a a late inswinger and was plumb.

Bravo looked very impressive in his curtailed innings and will take some runs from this English attack in this series. Holding drives back and playing them late, he looked a class above the rest.

Broad tore through the lower order in two spells after tea and finished the day with six but he is yet to be as impressive as twelve months ago. Recovering from injury, his length was erratic and he was taken for more boundaries than any other bowler. Four of his dismissals were gifted from poor batsmanship but in the end, he has a swag of wickets in the column that counts. Any bowler knows you have days like these and also knows that someone else misses out on that same day. Today, it was Anderson, who bowled superbly from start to finish. He hooped the ball both ways, reminiscent of a certain West Australian forty years ago. Graham Smith's batsmen would have been making notes.

Jimmy Anderson bowls Powell

Tim Bresnan, England's so called lucky charm, bowled an immaculate line for all of his twenty overs and exemplified the pressure which England like to put batsmen under. The theory goes, that when the runs go dry, batsmen get itchy feet but Chanderpaul has abundant supplies of vinegar and rosemary. Whatever pre-match thoughts were, Bresnan was the right choice.

Chanderpaul starts the second day needing 13 for his twenty six hundred and only the youngster, Shanon Gabriel to bat with. He'll need to hope Gabriel survives the two balls left in Broad's 25th over, as his batting pedigree isn't encouraging. In first class matches for Trinidad in the recently completed season he had scores of 0, 11, 0, 0, 0x, 3, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0. Just close your eyes and hope Shiv.