Cricket: Essex batsmen Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara put on a 213-run stand for the second wicket as England eased their way to a dominant 302 for two against the West Indies after day one of the second Test at The Riverside.
Bopara (108) became the fifth England batsman to register centuries in three successive innings but fell 4.1 overs before the close as Lionel Baker produced a fine in-cutter to hand the flagging tourists some late solace.
Cook, meanwhile, made a watchful 126 not out as he batted through for his ninth Test hundred.
Bopara raced through the nineties with a daring assault on Sulieman Benn, which included two fours and the day's only six over long-on, to join the short list of England batsmen with three hundreds in a row.
That the other four names on that list are Herbert Sutcliffe, Denis Compton, Geoffrey Boycott and Graham Gooch speaks volumes for England's new number three.
Andrew Strauss had earlier won the toss and opted to bat first despite a hint of cloud cover.
Although it later proved to be the right decision, the captain was unable to take advantage himself, departing for 26 after gloving opposite number Chris Gayle to Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps.
It was a satisfying scalp for Gayle, who has been involved in some verbal jousting with his counterpart for much of the week.
It was, though, a rare cause for celebration in the field, with the Essex duo piling on the runs as England looked to close out the two-Test series having won at Lord's.
James Anderson was sent in as nightwatchman following Bopara's dismissal and stood firm despite some aggressive bowling from the quick men.
Afterwards Bopara claimed his nightmare in Sri Lanka spurred him on to his current run of form.
Bopara's streak is in stark contrast to his experiences after making his Test debut on the sub-continent in 2007, which included three straight ducks and a subsequent spell in the international wilderness.
"Sri Lanka was one of worst times of my cricket career," he told Sky Sports.
"I went with high hopes and reckon I came back better, tougher. It made me work harder and hopefully it's showing now."
Bopara's knock was relatively fluent compared to Cook's, and the opener admitted afterwards he is finding life in the middle tough at present.
"It's been a battle for the last 12 months and it's just nice to score some runs," Cook said.
"I never make it look easy. It's frustrating with Ravi at the other end, who does make it look so easy.
"But it's about how many you get and not how you get them."
The pitch looked slow and lifeless for much of the first day but Cook believes it will become more challenging as the match progresses.
"I think we've definitely had the best of it," he said, after captain Andrew Strauss apparently called it right having won this morning's toss.
"It's only going to go one way now."