Alastair Cook and Ian Bell made composed fifties to guide England to a comfortable five-wicket win over the West Indies in the first Test at Lord's on Tuesday (AEST).
The hosts had crumbled to 4 for 57 chasing 191 for victory on a chilly morning but Cook and Bell steadied the ship with a fifth-wicket partnership of 132.
Cook was out for 79 just before the end but Bell steered England home, clipping Marlon Samuels for four through mid-wicket to seal victory and finish on 63 not out.
"There's always a bit of pressure when you're chasing a score but we always had faith the wicket was going to stay very flat," England captain Andrew Strauss told a news conference.
"It was an outstanding performance from Cook and Bell, they played in a very professional way and showed their class.
"We had to work very hard for this victory and it certainly wasn't a formality to wrap it up today."
After resuming on 2 for 10, Jonathan Trott became Kemar Roach's third victim of the innings when he nicked a rapid seaming delivery to Darren Sammy at slip before Kevin Pietersen edged a catch to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin trying to pull a short ball from Shannon Gabriel.
That left the West Indies scenting an unlikely victory against the world's top-ranked team.
The touring side have won only one of its last 18 tests in England and trailed the hosts by 155 runs on first innings but a battling 345 second time round kept them in the match.
Cook and Bell displayed exemplary calmness in a tense atmosphere, however, rotating the strike neatly and hitting bad balls to the boundary to steer England to 4 for 131 at lunch.
Cook got to his fifty just before the interval with a late cut for four off spinner Samuels, the left-hander reaching the milestone off 78 balls having hit eight boundaries.
Bell passed fifty for the second time in the match midway through the afternoon session and the pair strolled through the final overs picking up runs at will before Cook was caught at gully by Kirk Edwards off Sammy with just two runs needed.
"We are quite pleased with the way we played, we took the game to the fifth day," Sammy said.
"There were good performances by some of our players when nobody gave us a chance.
"We kept coming back and that shows a good team spirit."
The second Test in the three-match series starts at Trent Bridge on Saturday (AEST).
Reuters
Tags: sport, cricket, england, united-kingdom First posted May 22, 2012 06:43:43
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