Graeme Swann a dream debut

Graeme Swann’s dream home debut continued as he took two wickets in two balls to leave England well on top in the first Test against the West Indies at Lord’s here on Wednesday.

At tea on the second day, the tourists were 99 for four, needing a total of 178 to avoid the follow-on, after England had made 377.

Swann who earlier on Wednesday made a Test-best 63 not out, showed the value of an off-spinner bowling to left-handers by first having Devon Smith play down the wrong line for 46. And next ball Swann saw Shivnarine Chanderpaul, long a thorn in England’s side, out for a golden duck when the usually obdurate left-hander edged a delivery that turned away from the bat to Paul Collingwood at slip.

Brendan Nash, who survived the hat-trick, was nought not out when bad light brought the session to a premature close with Lendl Simmons unbeaten on four. Swann, unusually for a spinner, handed the new ball by England captain Andrew Strauss, went in at tea with figures of two wickets for seven runs in three overs.

Stuart Broad had dismissed both West Indies captain Chris Gayle, playing on following a 28 made in typically aggressive style, and Ramnaresh Sarwan (13).

England failed to add to their lunch total of 377 for eight, leaving tailender Swann on his Test-best score in only his sixth match at this level.

Together with Ravi Bopara, also making his home Test debut, he put on 93 for the eighth wicket.

Bopara, whose hundred on Wednesday was the cornerstone of England’s total, extended his overnight Test-best of 118 to 143.

Fast bowler Fidel Edwards led the West Indies with six for 92 - his best Test figures against England, surpassing the five for 112 he took at Chester-le-Street in 2007.

But the West Indies would have been chasing a far lower score had they not dropped six catches in Wednesday’s final session. LONDON, AFP

ENGLAND 1st Innings (overnight: 289-7)

A. STRAUSS c Ramdin b Taylor		 16
A. Cook b Edwards 			 35 
R. Bopara c Nash b Taylor		143
K. Pietersen c Ramdin b Edwards		  0
P. Collingwood c Smith b Edwards	  8
M. Prior c Simmons b Edwards		 42
S. Broad c Taylor b Benn		 38
T. Bresnan lbw b Benn			  9
G. Swann not out 			 63
J. Anderson c Ramdin b Edwards		  1
G. Onions b Edwards			  0

EXTRAS (b1, lb5, w7, nb9)		 22
TOTAL (all out, 111.3 overs, 485 mins)	377

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 (Strauss), 2-92 (Cook), 3-92 (Pietersen), 4-109 (Collingwood), 
	5-193 (Prior), 6-262 (Broad), 7-275 (Bresnan), 8-368 (Bopara), 9-377 (Anderson), 10-377 (Onions)
BOWLING: Taylor 24-2-83-2 (2nb, 1w); Edwards 26.3-4-92-6 (7nb, 1w); Baker 24-5-75-0 (2w);

 Benn 27-4-84-2; Nash 2-1-2-0; Simmons 5-1-24-0 (3w); Gayle 3-0-11-0.

WEST INDIES 1st Innings

C. GAYLE b Broad			28
D. Smith b Swann			46
R. Sarwan c Prior b Broad		13
L. Simmons not out			 6
S. Chanderpaul c Collingwood b Swann	 0
B. Nash not out 			 0

EXTRAS (lb5, w1)			 6
TOTAL (4 wkts, 20 overs, 93 mins)	99

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-46 (Gayle), 2-70 (Sarwan), 3-99 (Smith), 4-99 (Chanderpaul)
TO BAT: D Ramdin, J Taylor, S Benn, F Edwards, L Baker
BOWLING: Broad 7-0-38-2; Swann 3-1-7-2; Anderson 7-0-32-0 (1w); Onions 3-0-17-0