Openers make steady start

England openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook came through an awkward first half-hour unscathed against West Indies at Lord's this morning.

Strauss lost the toss and therefore found himself and Cook charged with blunting the tourists' new-ball threat on day one of the first Test.

They did so to the tune of 32 without loss as Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor failed to take full advantage of the swing available to them under cloudy skies after a rain-delayed start.

The Windies pair were understandably rusty, prevented by bad weather in Taunton from bowling a single delivery in their only tour match before the start of this four-Test series.

Taylor in particular struggled to locate a testing line against the two left-handers, but Strauss and Cook nonetheless needed to be patient.

It therefore took until well into the sixth over of the day before England recorded a boundary, Strauss pulling Taylor for four and then finding the fence in the same direction next ball when the bowler over-pitched on to his pads.

The hosts' only notable scare had come when a minor misunderstanding over a single left Strauss scampering successfully to make his ground as a direct hit throw came in from cover.

As they had feared, England were forced to go into this match without Andrew Flintoff - the key all-rounder's ankle was too sore to be risked in the first of seven Tests scheduled this summer.

Middle-order batsman Owais Shah therefore came in for only his second Test, and wicketkeeper Matt Prior made his debut.