England v West Indies, 1st Test, Lord's, 2nd day

Strauss and Trott give England command

Andrew Strauss has struggled to find an air of superiority at the crease over the past two years, but there is something about Lord's that encourages the best in him. He is attuned to its trim and businesslike air and after an unrewarding winter that brought his right to the England captaincy into focus he has never valued it more.

Strauss averages 55 in Tests at Lord's with four hundreds and he was in the best of order against West Indies on the second day. At Lord's he does not just dominate an attack, he virtually outranks them. One innings into England's Test summer, he has quietened any conjecture about his captaincy. At tea, a 20th Test hundred was 22 runs away. Whatever else will we talk about?

Lord's is never happier than when imagining that it has sustained an England captain, especially a captain as courteous as Strauss. "Commendable," one could imagine the members muttering as he crashed a cut or stroked a straight drive, a greater than average number for him. At tea, after a wicketless afternoon, his stand with Jonathan Trott was worth 120, but Trott was at his most unobtrusive.

Alastair Cook was the only batsman to fall by tea, dragging Kemar Roach onto his leg stump on 26 as he cut at a ball that was close to him. Roach, who took 19 wickets in three Tests against Australia, is West Indies' primary source of top-order wickets was all jingle-jangle as he dashed in with earrings shining and heavy gold necklace swaying. He was the quickest bowl on view, too, touching 88mph at times.

England also had to contend with a Test debutant, Shannon Gabriel, a 24-year-old Trinidadian. Rarely for England these days, they had no footage of him, leaving Strauss and Cook to learn on the hoof. It was a bit like playing for England in days of yore - or probably like playing for the West Indies even now. Finding themselves technically bereft, they coped rather well, which is a relief to know at a time when the financial markets are in such turmoil that everybody in England might soon have to trade in their iPads and return to subsistence farming.

Gabriel is powerfully built with a strong action and his second ball whistled past Cook's outside edge, but like the rest of West Indies' attack he failed to find much swing in overcast conditions. In fact no West Indies pace bowler swung it, a far cry from how James Anderson had begun England's attack on the first morning.

Strauss strolls jauntily down the steps with the Lord's pavilion behind him as if leaving an office in the City for a morning meeting. He was beginning an England summer in the customary manner, with a Test at Lord's. It was strange to recall that had Glamorgan not hit financial difficulties they would have been playing in Cardiff. He as so comfortable in his surroundings that he began his innings as if embarking upon a series of pleasantries. 'Good morning, Mr Roach, my name is Strauss. How do you do?'

He got off the mark with a thick edge against Fidel Edwards through gully, but an orderly cover drive in Edwards' next over was the first boundary of the morning filed in the out tray. He likes the ball coming on to him and, even though this Lord's pitch is a slow one, the West Indies attack suited him. He was in his element again and, with no spin bowler other than Marlon Samuels' occasionals in the West Indies ranks, he knew that the rhythms of the day were not about to change.

Trott's arrival at the crease coincided with morning drinks - this should be made compulsory under ICC regulations because it allows enough time for Trott to scratch his guard as long as everybody sips their drinks slowly - and settled in against Darren Sammy's medium pace.

Time to reflect upon his unbeaten 31 over lunch was probably not what Strauss needed, given his habit of getting out when set over his fallow two-year period. He made only a single in the first 35 minutes after lunch as the hum of the Lord's provided a soundtrack to a somnolent afternoon. Then suddenly his half-century was secured with three boundaries off Sammy: a clip off his pads, a straight drive that left two fielders sprawling and finally a present outside leg stump which he flicked to the long leg boundary.

Trott was also not about to be rushed. He might have been out twice on 17. West Indies were confident enough about Sammy's lbw appeal to engage in a bout of hand-slapping only for umpire Aleem Dar's decision to be upheld on review. Then in Sammy's next over Trott feathered one. Hot Spot - a new, improved Hot Spot apparently - and Snicko both showed contact but West Indies' appeal was half-hearted and Trott got away with it.

Stuart Broad, England's darling of the first day, needed only one ball on the second morning to round up the West Indies innings, so finishing with Test-best figures of 7 for 72. Gabriel had received his first Test cap in a little ceremony before start of play and pushed respectfully forward to his first ball only to nick it to Graeme Swann at second slip.

That left Shivnarine Chanderpaul unbeaten on 87, 13 runs short of what would have been his 26th Test century. Once again he was the stalwart of West Indies innings, batting in a middle-order position where statistics insist he is most productive. He did not face another ball after taking a single from the first ball of the last over on the first day and watched West Indies' last two wickets fall from the non-striker's end. He is unlikely to learn from the experience; he plays in his bubble and at his time of life no new thoughts are about to enter it.