CRICKET:England captain Andrew Strauss led from the front once more in the bid to level the Test series against West Indies. Strauss passed 50 for the second time in as many matches and made the most of a life as his side took lunch on 108 without loss on the opening day of the fourth Test at Kensington Oval.
Strauss, who struck a magnificent 169 in the drawn third Test last week, began in similarly aggressive manner after winning the toss.
He exposed Daren Powell’s continued misdirection by hitting three boundaries in the Jamaican fast bowler’s opening couple of overs, which cost 18 runs, and that was the catalyst in his charge to an unbeaten 71 by the interval.
While Jerome Taylor kept things tight from the Malcolm Marshall end of the ground - his first four overs including only one scoring stroke, a square-driven boundary by Alastair Cook - runs flowed from the other.
Fidel Edwards was removed from the attack after only three overs from the Joel Garner end and Strauss soon punished Powell. A gift of a delivery was pulled for four powerfully and he followed up with a pristine off drive for another boundary next ball.
His most audacious stroke of the opening hour, however, came in the next over of the innings, the eighth, when he drove ferociously on the up off Taylor to beat mid-off and register a third boundary in quick succession.
Another poor delivery from Powell was then cracked by Strauss off the back foot between gully and the slips during a personal run-glut of 23 runs from a dozen deliveries.
Cook also took advantage of Powell’s profligacy, hammering another long-hop to the rope at point, a stroke that encouraged West Indies captain Chris Gayle to post a sweeper.
It made little difference, however, as Strauss twice beat Brendan Nash in the deep with a combination of power and placement in quick succession.
His half-century arrived with a cover-driven four off giant spinner Sulieman Benn, his eighth of the innings, but the assault on the hosts’ back-up bowlers continued in an over that included three Strauss fours.
When Strauss did make error on 58, with an edged drive at Edwards, he was inexplicably reprieved by Gayle flooring a dolly at slip.
But England’s tactical attacking policy was evident when Cook, who took lunch on 37 not out, launched Benn for only the second six of his 40-match Test career, via a slog-sweep over midwicket.
Strauss’s decision to make first use of the pitch appeared a good one and followed perhaps an even bigger one as Steve Harmison was dropped for this must-win match.
Durham fast bowler Harmison was left out of the XI, with Ryan Sidebottom preferred, as the tourists seek to level the series.
With Andrew Flintoff and Matt Prior unavailable, due to injury and paternity leave respectively, Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara was recalled and Tim Ambrose played his first match of the winter.
Harmison’s absence meant England did not field a single member of the bowling attack whose performances sealed victory here in the corresponding match in 2004.
Harmison was the least effective of England’s bowlers at the Antigua Recreation Ground last week and appears to have paid the price - although he had a back niggle earlier in the build-up here, he was confirmed as fit and available by the team management and got through the pre-match net sessions.