Edwards and Bopara share honours on opening day

First Test, Day 1: England 289/7. Ravi Bopara scored his second consecutive century for England - his first on home soil - and put himself firmly in the running for an Ashes place as an intriguing day of cricket ended with honours pretty much even.

England's summer of Test cricket got off to a slow start but warmed up nicely in the afternoon sun at Lords as Fidel Edwards tore through the England middle order before a spirited counter attack led by Matt Prior and Bopara helped steady the ship.

The West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl in overcast and windy conditions at HQ. England's opening pair of Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss seemed to have the measure of the tourists attack until Strauss unexpectedly edged behind off Jerome Taylor with the score on 28.

That threw Bopara, England's new number three, into the fray and he was immediately beaten all ends up by a fine delivery from Taylor by way of introduction. However, he soon settled down and together with Cook guided England through to lunch with the score on 88-1.

It was in the afternoon that the fireworks began as Fidel Edwards came to life with a fearsome post-lunch spell of 6-2-15-3. His first victim was Cook who edged onto his stumps. Next up was Kevin Pietersen who lasted just one ball as Edwards produced a wicked delivery that clipped the edge and flew through to keeper Dinesh Ramdin, who held on to a fine catch despite being wrong-footed by the edge.

Paul Collingwood, who failed to get a game during his sojourn in the IPL, looked rusty and was soon despatched by Edwards after prodding at a swinging delivery.

That left Prior and Bopara with the task of rescuing England from a very precarious position with score on 109-4. But they responded solidly. Bopara reached 50 soon after Prior's arrival, and as he held down one end, the keeper took the game to the tourists.

After tea, Prior soon fell for 42 but Bopara received staunch support from Stuart Broad (38). New-boy Tim Bresnan fell cheaply, before Graham Swann and Bopara saw the hosts safely through to the close.

Bopara will hope to press on today to a big century and cement his position as the number three in form - Owais Shah, Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell will all be watching with interest. ·