England v West Indies, 1st Test, Lord's

Chanderpaul fights after West Indies stumble

Tea West Indies 146 for 4 (Chanderpaul 42*, Samuels 14*) v England

That Shivnarine Chanderpaul values his wicket is not a matter for debate. England's bowlers know it, the umpire Marius Erasmus knows it and, most controversially of all, his team-mate Darren Bravo knows it. All three have found that getting Chanderpaul to leave the crease is no easy matter.

Chanderpaul, more than 18 years since he made his Test debut, is ranked No. 1 Test batsman in the world which is proof enough that, at 37, his appetite for batting has not diminished. He was 42 not out at tea, with his average against England in England climbing beyond 66, but his innings was not without collateral damage as he played a central role in the run out of his team-mate Bravo in mid-afternoon.

Chanderpaul was guilty of ball watching when he clipped Graeme Swann backward of square, took a couple of paces forward, enough to lure Bravo into attempting the single and made a timely return to his crease shortly before Bravo arrived alongside him. Matt Prior's transfer of Bell's throw to the bowler's end was so awry that he looked on in horror as Swann dived to his left to retrieve and completed the run out with a measure of relief.

If there was an element of self-preservation, it should be no surprise because his refusal to concede his wicket readily has sustained him for his entire career, but "Bravo" was one word that did not immediately spring to mind.

Graeme Swann should have caught Bravo at second slip off James Anderson in the previous over, the ball rebounding off his chest. There is something about catching the ball out of the egg-and-bacon backdrop in the Lord's pavilion that can defeat the best of slip catchers.

Shortly after the run out of Bravo, umpire Erasmus upheld Anderson's appeal for lbw, around the wicket, after Chanderpaul raised arms and was hit on the back leg. Chanderpaul reviewed and Hawk-Eye suggested the ball was comfortably missing off-stump. He had no further alarms until tea, combating England's policy of bowling around the wicket, outside off-stump, to a 7-2 field including two gullies, with contentment.

England's second wicket of the afternoon was Adrian Barath, who had included some cultured cover drives in his 42 - nine boundaries in all - before falling to a gully catch by Anderson, who fell backwards as he parried, but caught at the second attempt. England had failed with an lbw review against Barath earlier in the over, but retained their two reviews because Broad had overstepped.

A cool, inhospitable English spring was a daunting challenge for the West Indies and when Anderson, England's player of the year, has a Dukes ball in his hand, the task is all the more challenging. He predictably made inroads in what for him were near-perfect bowling conditions with two wickets by lunch, bowling Kieran Powell with a superb delivery that snaked back to take the top of off-stump and having Kirk Edwards lbw.

He was back in the old routine, again presenting himself as arguably the greatest proponent of swing bowling in the world. He even gave the on-field pep talk before play began. He is a man of few words and has probably found that an equally difficult skill to master.

Support for Anderson was mixed. Stuart Broad was not quite at his best and Tim Bresnan, who was preferred to Graham Onions or Steve Finn, was solid but unspectacular, beginning with four maidens and bowling 13 overs for 17 runs by lunch as he sought to build pressure in what has become England's distinctive manner. England have won all 11 Tests that he has played (Adam Gilchrist won his first 15 for Australia) and his reliability is appealing in a four-strong attack but it was a borderline selection.

There was also reason for England supporters to rue Andrew Strauss' conservatism when Bravo edged his first ball, from Anderson, at catchable height through a vacant fourth slip.

It was no surprise that England chose to bowl. The pitch was white and gleaming but it was what lay above and below that mattered. The groundsman, Mick Hunt, regarded underlying moisture as inevitable and up above the cloud cover added to the sense that batting would be difficult. As it turned out, there was more swing - and mostly for Anderson - than seam.

Then there was the matter of West Indies' recent history. West Indies sides coming to England used to invite a sense of awe. These days, for many they bring a sense of regret, a regret at their inability to stand alongside the first tier nations, illustrated by their record of two wins in their past 30 Tests.

The great West Indian sides could strut their stuff in midsummer in conditions that were more in their favour, but weaker West Indies sides have become the English season's support act and so must play their Test cricket earlier when conditions are stacked against them. It makes their task of recovery doubly difficult.

There will be a Lord's inquest, no doubt, about how Kieron Powell became Kieron Pollard on the scoreboard. To see Pollard, a musculat Twenty20 specialist, opening in a Test would be quite something. As it was, soon after Powell's name was corrected on the scoreboard, it was removed, courtesy of Anderson. Powell flirted with an outswinger and that must have still been in his mind and he pushed reluctantly at an inswinger that curved back onto the top of off-stump.

Anderson followed up with the wicket of Edwards in his eighth over. His first ball to Edwards must have convinced him of the rigours of a murky English spring, a ball that hooped back wickedly, too much for lbw. Edwards was rendered strokeless before he fell lbw to a routine angled delivery.

The name on the scoreboard now is Chanderpaul. It has been there before. It often remains a very long time.