Related Links : West Indies in England 2007 : Scorecard
Michael Vaughan celebrated his return to the England Test Side with a century. England put West Indies behind in the contest on the opening day’s play at Headingley in Leeds. The homeside piled up 366 for the loss of five wickets with Kevin Pietersen also scoring a century. In the 85 overs that were bowled, England put on 366 runs with Kevin Pietersen still unfinished on 130.
The toss for this match was won by Michael Vaughan and England batted first on a good batting strip. The English side was with two changes with Michael Vaughan returning for Owais Shah and Ryan Sidebottom making a comeback after a long period replacing the injured Matthew Hoggard. Daren Powell gave a bright start by dismissing Andrew Strauss for 15 in the 9th over. West Indies had a good lunch break as they could end the inform Alastair Cook’s innings for 42. Chris Gayle with his off spin was the wicket taker getting an lbw decision in his favour.
The afternoon show was taken care by Vaughan and the ever attacking Kevin Pietersen. The runs came at the fair pace to keep the West Indian fielders busy. Michael Vaughan got out after resumption of play in the last session, getting caught off Jerome Taylor. Vaughan got his 16th hundred by then, getting his 103 from 173 balls with 11 fours. The partnership for the third wicket was 163 coming at a brisk pace. England by close lost further wickets of Collingwood and Bell both falling to Corey Collymore. While Collingwood got a start to his innings with a 29, Bell fell early for just 5. At stumps, Kevin Pietersen standing tall with 130 from 155 balls only with 15 boundaries. He has got the dangerous Matt Prior on 13 to give him company for tomorrow morning. With so many runs scored by England, the West Indian batsmen need to pull out a couple of long innings to catch up with the first innings total. They have lost a key batsman for this match and that is Shivnarine Chanderpaul with a bleeding knee. Chanderpaul’s place has gone to Sylvester Joseph.