England made to work for win by West Indies
SPINNER Graeme Swann insists England still expect to take a 1-0 lead in the Test series with West Indies today despite a frustrating day in the field and the loss of captain Andrew Strauss for just one run.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul again tormented the hosts at Lord’s, his painstaking 91 denying England an early conclusion and ensuring this first of three Tests will go to the wire in front an anticipated full house.
Marlon Samuels (86) and Denesh Ramdin (43) helped West Indies amass a second-innings total of 345, despite all-rounder Stuart Broad taking his match haul to 11 wickets, as they set England a target of 191.
Strauss got the reply off to a dreadful start, caught at first slip as his batting woes returned, and paceman Kemar Roach also claimed nightwatchman James Anderson before the close to leave England 10-2.
Swann said: “It’s unfortunate to lose the captain, obviously, especially after his hundred in the first innings. It was always going to be a tricky 15 minutes, batting in the gloom against a world-class bowler like Kemar Roach. But luckily we’ve got through it relatively unscathed.
“We’ve got Trotty [Jonathan Trott] and Cooky [Alastair Cook] at the crease, and we’ll be very confident going into tomorrow that they can see us through. We’d have taken a chase of less than 200 and we deserved a chase of less than 200.”
With ticket prices slashed for today’s conclusion, England will hope for strong home support as they look to begin the summer on a winning note – but West Indies have shown they will not roll over.
Chanderpaul was just nine short of his century when Swann trapped him lbw, although by then he had ensured England would bat again.
Broad added four more wickets to his first-innings seven to become only the second Englishman to hit a century, take a five-fer and claim 10 wickets in a match at Lord’s.