07 May,2009 08:46 AM IST | | AFP
New number three Ravi Bopara's second successive Test hundred was the centrepiece of England's 289 for seven on the first day of their series opener with the West Indies at Lord's yesterday.
Bopara was a Test-best 118 not out at stumps in his first Test since making 104 against the West Indies in Barbados in February and only fifth in all.
The 24-year-old Essex all-rounder, dropped on 76 and 100, had faced 246 balls with 14 fours in an innings so far lasting nearly six hours.
Bopara prevented a complete collapse against Fidel Edwards, who took four wickets for 53 runs in 19 overs including the prize scalp of Kevin Pietersen for nought.
Bopara said he had not been nervous at all as he approached the century mark.
"I felt really relaxed, but I wanted to reach it off a single and not a boundary so I could run down the other end and really breathe it in," said Bopara, whose century will have satisfied the selectors they made the right choice in picking him and not Ian Bell or former captain Michael Vaughan.
"It was a good day, though, to be honest I wasn't thinking too much about it this morning or in the days leading up to it. I was just hanging out with my friends."
Fast bowler Edwards might have had a few more had Bopara not been missed off a simple chance and Stuart Broad, dropped twice, given four reprieves as the West Indies put down a potentially costly six catches after the tea interval.
Broad, was eventually out for 38 when he cut left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, who had dropped him off his own bowling, to Jerome Taylor at point after a stand of 69 with Bopara had taken England to 262 for six. Benn then had Test debutant Tim Bresnan leg before for nine, with Graeme Swann seven not out at the close.
IPL factor
Both Bopara and Edwards had recently honed their skills playing in the Indian Premier League.
Bopara, whose temperament was a key factor in his promotion up the order from number six ahead of more experienced number three batsmen Shah, Bell and Vaughan, rarely looked flustered. England took tea on 182 for four.
