KEY POINTS:
LONDON - England opener Alastair Cook batted with monumental patience today to score his fifth century in 15 tests on the opening day of the first cricket test against the West Indies at Lord's,
Cook's 102 from 173 balls provided the foundation of his team's 200 for three when bad light stopped plan on a day in which little went right for the tourists after Ramnaresh Sarwan won the toss and decided to field.
The West Indies have won only one test abroad against major nations, excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, in the past 10 years and Sarwan decided his best hope of success lay in giving his pace bowlers the chance to exploit a damp Lord's pitch.
Apart from a lively spell from Daren Powell who captured two wickets in the space of three overs after lunch, the West Indies' pace quartet of Powell, Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore and Dwayne Bravo betrayed their lack of match practice.
The West Indies have not played a test this year and their bowlers had not delivered a single delivery in England before today after rain washed out most of their sole opening tour match.
Cook and acting captain Andrew Strauss took the score to 85 without loss at lunch after play had started 30 minutes late due to yet more of the rain which has drenched London for most of the past week.
They had added only three more after lunch when Strauss on 33 drove Powell straight to Devon Smith in the gully.
Then Owais Shah, playing his second test in place of the injured Andrew Flintoff, never settled.
After being hit on the head by a throw from Jerome Taylor he was caught by Smith at third slip for six pushing forward at Powell.
Kevin Pietersen took the attack to Powell with fours through gully and extra cover but succumbed for 26 to a third catch by Smith, this time at cover, off Collymore.
Cook, who scored 116 against Australia in Perth last year to become the only England batsman to score four test hundreds before the age of 22, continued unperturbed in partnership with Paul Collingwood.
The Essex left-hander rigorously avoided playing anything wide of the offstump, a weakness the Australian bowlers exploited mercilessly in their 5-0 Ashes success, and concentrated on scoring square both sides of the wicket.
He reached his century after tea from 142 balls in 162 minutes with 10 fours, one of them all run, and was still at the crease when bad light brought a premature end to the day's play.
SCOREBOARD
England
First innings
A Strauss c Smith b Powell 33
A Cook not out 102
O Shah c Smith b Powell 6
K Pietersen c Smith b Collymore 26
P Collingwood not out 21
Extras (10lb, 1w, 1nb) 12
Total (for 3 wkts, 56 overs) 200
Fall: 88, 103, 162.
Bowling: D Powell 18-4-52-2, J Taylor 6-0-35-0, C Collymore 19-4-60-1 (1nb), D Bravo 13-3-43-0 (1w).
- REUTERS
