Watching cricket at the Antigua Recreation Ground yesterday was like sifting through an old, much-treasured family album, bringing back, as it did, many happy memories. Instead of the cold, soulless and little-loved Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, it was a return to intimacy and atmosphere. That it was good to be back was a sentiment shared by all except the bowlers, who, after a day of toil, might wish they had not kicked up such a fuss two days ago.

After 51 all out, there was nowhere a bunch of short-of-confidence batsmen would rather come than a place renowned as a bowlers’ graveyard. And once Chris Gayle thoughtfully handed England first use of a plum pitch, England took full advantage, progressing as serenely as one of the many sailing boats that pass through these parts. There was a splendid hundred for Andrew Strauss, and he built century partnerships with both Alastair Cook and Owais Shah, who scored pleasing half-centuries.

For Strauss, this was exactly the response from his side that he was looking for and that he played such a large part will have added to his sense of satisfaction. In the late evening sunshine, as he reached his fifteenth Test hundred and then 150, there was an utter assurance about his play. It needed a quick spell from Fidel Edwards with the second new ball in fading light to end his stay as he spooned a return catch off a miscued pull.

Strauss would have been pleased, too, for Shah, his county colleague, who has had to exhibit the patience of Job over the past 18 months, but played impressively – especially down the ground – for his fifty. Shah looked set for a big score when he ran himself out, failing to beat Jerome Taylor’s throw, after Strauss had turned down the offer of a chancy single. A comeback hundred gone begging.

This was a tough day to be a West Indies bowler and although they will not have thanked their captain last night, they looked a shadow of the side who had blown away England at Sabina Park. Whether they had been knocked off their stride by the incompetence of the administrators is difficult to say, but their body language lacked sparkle, the bowling lacked punch and discipline and there were too many errors in the field. An injury late in the day to Sulieman Benn added one more cloud to an already overcast day.

English spectators were relieved to be watching any cricket at all and that it was at the ARG only added to their sense of enjoyment. The decrepit Andy Roberts and Richie Richardson stands were full to bursting; Chickie’s hi-fi blasted out some familiar tunes, and the “bootylicious” Digicel girls waved the flags of the region whenever a boundary was struck, which was often. Only the inimitable Gravy, who entertained spectators here so richly, until his “retirement” in 2000, was missing from the fun.

For England, though, the memories of Sabina needed to be erased not by incompetent administrators, a sandy outfield and a change of venue, but by their batsmen and as Strauss and Cook walked out to a ringing endorsement from thousands of their supporters, the dressing-room would have been a nervous place. For Strauss, in particular, it was an important day, there being nothing better than personal performance to underpin a captain’s respect from within the team.

Both had been shackled at Sabina, but here they reassured with an opening partnership of 123. Cook, in particular, looked in better order, moving his feet with more purpose and forcing the bowlers to bowl the odd short delivery that was pounced on. Strauss, rightly, was determined to be positive, with the result that England’s fifty came up in the fourteenth over with a straight drive to the boundary, one of nine fours in that time that hurried over the convex-shaped outfield.

The captain, it must be said, enjoyed a certain amount of good fortune in his first fifty. He might have been run-out on nine but for Ramnaresh Sarwan dozing at short leg, when he should have scampered to the stumps to intercept Daren Powell’s return from square leg; he should have been given out by Daryl Harper in the penultimate over before lunch when a straight ball from Gayle hit him below the knee roll in front of his stumps, and he was dropped by Gayle – a difficult chance, admittedly – at slip off Benn when he had made 47. Unlike Strauss, Cook made only one mistake and it was his last. He has made a habit of getting out between 50 and 60 of late, and he did so again when, looking to cut Gayle, he became cramped for room and could only chop to slip, where Devon Smith took a brilliant catch, low down and juggling. On this pitch, 52 would have felt like a missed opportunity.

In between his moments of good fortune, Strauss played with the utmost fluency and freedom. It was noticeable that he was not prepared to let Benn settle, skipping down the pitch and smiting him for a straight six – his first in Test cricket in nearly three years. And he approached three figures with a number of resounding strokes, two pulls and a drive off Powell and a launch over mid-on off the left-arm spin of Ryan Hinds.

Unlike Cook, Strauss has a wonderful conversion rate of fifties to hundreds, and once Gayle had erred by letting a cut go between himself and the wicketkeeper when Strauss had 71, a hundred was a certainty. It came with a nudged two to fine leg off Powell and it was accompanied with a clenched fist and the now trademark swing of the bat – much like a tennis smash.

He had sprung a surprise at the start of the day when he omitted Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar from the starting XI. By the end of the day, watching the bowlers toil on the flattest of pitches, they, like England’s travelling support, had much to thank the captain for.

England:

First Innings
*A J Strauss c and b Edwards 169
A N Cook c Smith b Gayle 52
O A Shah run out 57
K P Pietersen not out 8
J M Anderson not out 3
Extras (b 6, w 1, nb 5) 12

Total (3 wkts, 92 overs) 301
P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, †M J Prior, S C J Broad, G P Swann and S J Harmison to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-123, 2-276, 3-295.

Bowling: Taylor 15-3-37-0; Edwards 15-2-41-1; Powell 11-2-40-0; Gayle 12-1-35-1; Benn 17-2-62-0; Hinds 15-2-59-0; Nash 7-2-21-0.

West Indies: *C H Gayle, D S Smith, R R Sarwan, S Chanderpaul, B P Nash, R O Hinds, †D Ramdin, J E Taylor, S J Benn, D B L Powell, F H Edwards.

Umpires: D J Harper (Australia) and R E Koertzen (South Africa).

Series details: First Test West Indies won by an innings and 23 runs (Jamaica). Second: Drawn (North Sound, Antigua). Fourth: Feb 26-Mar 2 (Barbados). Fifth: Mar 5-10 (Trinidad).