Paul Collingwood made West Indies pay for dropping him twice by scoring 111 as England advanced to 372 for five at tea on the second day of the first Test against West Indies at Lord's here Friday. Collingwood, missed in the 30s and lucky to survive an lbw appeal, received good support from Ian Bell, 59 not out, in a fifth-wicket stand of 144.
Wicket-keeper Matt Prior, making his Test debut, was unbeaten on five. Opener Alastair Cook had already scored 105 in the first match of this four-Test series. England had found runs hard to come by during Friday's morning session and resumed on 280 for four.
Bell, who'd taken 37 minutes to score his first run, such was the improved accuracy of the West Indies attack, found his touch with a superb cover-drive off Daren Powell. A similar shot from Collingwood off Powell brought up the duo's century stand in 174 balls.
Bell then completed an 82-ball fifty with his eighth boundary, an edged drive off Jerome Taylor that flew through the slips. Runs were coming briskly now, the attack starting to tire and wasting the advantage of the new ball's swing with too many short deliveries, although they did beat the outside edge on occasion. Collingwood pulled Taylor to go to 97 before a steered four to third man took him to a century in 178 balls with 13 boundaries.
It was the 30-year-old's fourth hundred in 21 Tests and second at Lord's after his 186 against Pakistan last year. With West Indies' four right-arm seamers unable to break the stand, new captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, leading the side following the retirement of star batsman Brian Lara, reintroduced off-spinner Chris Gayle into the attack.
But medium-pacer Dwayne Bravo made the breakthrough when Collingwood played back to a ball that came down the slope and was bowled for 111, England's 'unlucky' number, to leave the hosts 363 for five.
Prior then hit a four through mid-wicket off Bravo. England, who began Friday on 200 for three after losing the toss, had enjoyed the better of Thursday's play against a West Indies side now in a lowly eighth place in the world Test rankings.
Cook was 102 not out and Collingwood unbeaten on 21 after the tourists, not helped by a lack of match practice that meant they hadn't bowled any 'live' overs since arriving in England, had failed to exploit Thursday's helpful cloud and pitch conditions fully. But the bowlers now had the benefit of 56 overs behind them and were the better for it.
Taylor was unlucky when Durham's Collingwood, on 31, drove loosely only for Daren Ganga at gully to drop the two-handed catch. Soon afterwards Taylor had an lbw appeal against Collingwood, now on 32 and playing no stroke outside off-stump, rejected by Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf. First change Corey Collymore should have had Collingwood out for 36 when a top-edged hook lobbed towards backward square leg where Taylor dropped the catch.
However, Cook was out to the first chance he offered. Cook, who had spoken of wanting to follow mentor Graham Gooch's advice and make sure he turned his hundred into a 'big-un', went when a square cut off Taylor was caught at backward point by Bravo. The 22-year-old left-hander batted for just short of five hours and faced 196 balls with nine boundaries in what was his fifth hundred in 15 Tests.
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