West Indies v England: day one details from Antigua

Andrew Strauss put the debacle of the abandoned Test here and England’s miserable collapse in Jamaica behind him with a stunning century on the opening day of the third Test. The England captain, feared shipwrecked with the loss of all hands when England were all out for 51 in his first Test as official captain in Jamaica, steered them into calmer Caribbean seas yesterday.

Two days after the second Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium was abandoned in the second over because the West Indies fast bowlers could not run up in the quicksand that served as the outfield, Strauss relished the opportunity of squaring the series in this hastily arranged match at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

“We’ve had a hard couple of weeks, no doubt about that,” Strauss said after scoring a magnificent 169, only eight runs short of his highest score, to lead his side to 301 for three at the end of the first day. “The one thing we wanted to do was play positively and prove to everyone that we have got some good batsmen.

“As captain, it’s always important to get runs and lead from the front. I’ve felt in pretty good form all tour, so I knew that if I backed my game plan, runs would come.

“There were two ways to react to what happened last week. One was to go into your shell and hope that you might get runs; the other was to take the bull by the horns and say, ‘I’m going to get runs.’ That was certainly the mindset I was in.” It was ominous for England when they were put in to bat on a pitch that was expected to be quick and bouncy after so little preparation, but, within minutes, Geoff Boycott, the radio pundit and former England opener, said: “If you’re in the dressing-room feeling a little apprehensive, you’ll have watched the first two deliveries and thought, ‘I fancy batting on this.’ ”

Strauss certainly did. He was looking for runs from the start and, after being dropped at slip on 47 by Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, he played more fluently and elegantly than in his previous 57 Tests on his way to his fifteenth century.

He and Alastair Cook shared an opening partnership of 123 and Owais Shah, playing in only his fourth Test, including the one that was abandoned on Friday, stepped up the pace in a second-wicket stand that was worth 153.

It remains to be seen whether the England bowlers, including Stephen Harmison and Graeme Swann at the expense of Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar, get any more out of the pitch than their West Indies counterparts did, but at least a proper Test match has broken out in Antigua.

Play may have begun 50 minutes late because of rain, but Strauss, Cook and Shah brought joy to the faces of more than 5,000 England supporters who had streamed disconsolately away from the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium three days ago.

They would much rather have been at the ARG in the first place than the soulless new stadium out in the country because it is such an evocative place. It was here that Brian Lara made his record scores of 375 and 400 not out against England, that Richards himself blasted the fastest Test century in 56 balls, also against England, and that the West Indies chased the highest fourth-innings target of 418 to beat Australia.

Now it is the scene of where Strauss has played arguably the most important innings of his career to breathe new life into his England team.