14 May,2009 06:14 PM IST | | AFP
West Indies captain Chris Gayle dismissed rival skipper Andrew Strauss to prevent England having things all their own way on the first morning of the second Test today.
England were still 85 for one at lunch, with Alastair Cook 39 not out and Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara unbeaten on nine.
They had been making serene progress on a placid pitch when Strauss, who'd been championing the cause of Test cricket yesterday after Gayle had stated his personal preference was for Twenty20, fell to the tourists' captain.
Primarily an opening batsman, Gayle is also a useful off-spinner and he had Strauss caught off the glove for 22 on the sweep by wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin to end a first-wicket stand of 69 with Cook.
Both sides were unchanged from last week's first Test of this two-match series at Lord's, which England won by 10 wickets as they looked to regain the Wisden Trophy they'd lost in the Caribbean earlier this year.
New-ball duo Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards struggled to extract much bounce from a placid Riverside pitch after Strauss won the toss and batted.
And they gave the left-handed England opening pair too many balls they could leave outside off-stump.
But Taylor, pitching the ball up, did beat Strauss on the outside edge when the Middlesex batsman was on nought and it took the England captain 18 balls to score his first run.
Edwards tested Strauss out with the short ball and, having let one pass, he pulled another in front of square through mid-wicket for four
After 18 unbroken overs of right-arm seam bowling, Gayle brought himself on to bowl from around the wicket and with his tenth delivery dismissed Strauss on his way to lunch figures of one wicket for 12 runs from six overs.
Cook had a lucky break on 23 when an inside edge off Lionel Baker narrowly missed his stumps before going for four. But three balls later he thrashed Baker through the covers for a resounding boundary.
