Marcus Trescothick eased himself back into international cricket with an unbeaten 95 as England coasted through the second session of the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's here on Thursday without losing a wicket.
At tea, England were 199 for one with Alastair Cook, in his first Test in England, 44 not out in the opening encounter of a three-match series.
The two left-handers had shared an unbroken stand of 113 after Andrew Strauss (48) fell to the last ball before lunch, caught by Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene off Muttiah Muralitharan.
In four hours at the crease Trescothick, who missed the 1-1 drawn series in India for personal reasons, had faced 165 balls with one six and 15 fours.
Cook, a 21-year-old Essex batsman, had scored a century as an opener on his Test debut against India in Nagpur in March.
Despite the change, he survived the five balls remaining from off-spinner Muralitharan's incomplete fourth over and got off the mark with a leg-glanced four off left-arm quick Chaminda Vaas.
Cook then had a narrow escape when, taking a single off Nuwan Kulasekara, on 17 he just beat mid-on Muralitharan's direct hit on the bowler's end stumps.
Meanwhile Trescothick, 30 not out at lunch, went to his fifty in grand style with a swept six off Muralitharan.
Murali, in the first Test at Lord's of his long career, was switched to the Nursery End but both batsmen coped well enough, even against the 'doosra'.
Cook though was fortunate when an edged cut off Murali flew past Jayawardene at slip when he'd made 31, the first four the bowler had conceded.
At the toss Andrew Flintoff, continuing as England captain in the ongoing absence of Michael Vaughan with a knee injury, chose to bat despite the fact that no Sri Lankan had made a fifty in the team's final warm-up match, a 10-wicket defeat by England A, last week.
However, in what was the earliest Test ever played in England and the home side's first on their own turf since they regained the Ashes against Australia last year, blue and sunny skies promised ideal batting conditions.
Vaas and Farveez Maharoof, who at tea was going for more than five an over lacked menace, as did first change Kulasekara. And, with no sign of a breakthrough, Muralitharan was brought on shortly before lunch. His first ball just missed Strauss's off-stump and in his second over Trescothick, on 28, appeared fortunate to survive a confident lbw appeal although the Somerset star, the only player in the England team aged over 30, was on the front foot.

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M. Trescothick not out                       95
A. Strauss c Jayawardene b Muralitharan      48
A. Cook not out                              44
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EXTRAS: (LB-1, W-1, NB-10)                   12
TOTAL: (for one wicket)                     199
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FALL OF WICKET: 1-86
TO BAT: K Pietersen, P Collingwood, A Flintoff, G Jones, L Plunkett, M Hoggard, S Mahmood, M Panesar
BOWLING: Vaas 16-2-43-0; Maharoof 13-1-68-0 (9nb); Kulasekara 12-0-44-0 (1nb, 1w); Muralitharan 16-5-31-1; Dilshan 2-0-12-0;
OVERS: 59 overs
SRI LANKA: Upul Tharanga, Jehan Mubarak, Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan
TOSS: England
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Rudi Koertzen (RSA)
TV UMPIRE: Nigel Llong (ENG)
MATCH REFEREE: Alan Hurst (AUS).