Bopara shines as Edwards strikes

England v West Indies, 1st npower Test, Lord's, 1st day

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Tea England 182 for 4 (Bopara 72*, Prior 42*) v West Indies
Live scorecard

	Fidel Edwards sets off in celebration after removing Alastair Cook to begin his burst of three wickets

Fidel Edwards showed he had no problems switching from IPL to Test mode as he ripped out three of England's top order during an electric spell on the first afternoon at Lord's. After moving to lunch fairly comfortably, England were rocked by Edwards' rapid burst as he made major inroads including the scalp of Kevin Pietersen first ball. However, Ravi Bopara held firm on his first outing at No. 3 with an impressive, unbeaten 72 as he and Matt Prior steadied the innings.

The series in the Caribbean showed that a team only needs to be caught on the hop once for it to decide an entire contest when Jerome Taylor ripped out England for 51 at Sabina Park. This time it was Taylor's new-ball partner, Edwards, who threatened to unravel the home side as he produced a post-lunch spell of 6-2-15-3. England will have breathed a sigh of relief that the wobble didn't turn into a full-blown collapse thanks to the maturity of Bopara and aggression of Prior, but Edwards was the star turn.

His first wicket was Alastair Cook who had played solidly for 35 before getting an inside edge into his stumps. During the first session the bowling had been too short on a pitch offering little despite Chris Gayle's decision to bowl. There had clearly been a team talk during the interval about bowling fuller and it worked with spectacular effect next ball.

Pietersen can often be a dodgy starter, but Edwards produced a delivery that would have dismissed most batsmen, most of the time as it shaped away late and took the outside edge. But just as good as the ball was Denesh Ramdin's catch because the wicketkeeper had almost been wrong-footed before sticking out his right glove and grabbing the chance.