LONDON, July 26: Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles took five wickets as England crushed West Indies by 210 runs in the first Test on Monday, their seventh victory in eight Tests.
Giles completed match figures of nine for 210 to help dismiss the touring side for 267 in their second innings, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul left unbeaten on 97 after his second defiant knock of the game. He batted for 230 minutes facing 152 balls with 18 fours.
The 31-year-old Giles was delighted to earn a place on the Lord's honours board following his Man-of-the-Match performance. "I was dying to get on the board. It is nice to be up there and something we all dream of," he told a news conference.
Captain Michael Vaughan was equally pleased with his spin bowler. "I am delighted with the way it came out of his hand and it put them under pressure," he said. "I batted on that and knew how difficult it would be to get 20 wickets."
Vaughan also claimed his place on the honours board with a century in each innings, only the second England batsman after Graham Gooch to accomplish the feat at the home of cricket.
"We are playing well, winning games and thriving off each other," Vaughan added. In Monday's first session, Giles struck twice, the prize dismissal of Lara his 100th Test wicket, to spark a spell that saw the tourists lose three wickets for 23 runs.
Giles bowled his former Warwickshire team-mate Lara for 44 with a superb delivery that spun sharply out of the rough to give the 31-year-old bowler his 100th Test wicket in his 37th match.
None of left-hander Lara's 26 Test hundreds had been made at Lord's and at the age of 35 he was unlikely to get another chance. Debutant Dwayne Bravo (10) then gave Giles a simple return catch and four balls later seamer Matthew Hoggard tempted Ridley Jacobs (one) to edge a catch to Graham Thorpe in the slips.
Giles had Tino Best and Pedro Collins stumped to complete second-innings figures of five for 81, and with Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff grabbing a wicket each England polished off the tail quickly.
Chanderpaul, who made 128 not out in the first innings, farmed the bowling in the latter stages but was left three runs short of emulating Vaughan's achievement. Lara said his team should not be too downhearted, referring to England scoring 391 for two on the first day as the crucial part of the match.
"The first day really cost us but the next three days we played some good cricket and fought with bat and ball, especially Chanderpaul," Lara said. England beat West Indies 3-0 earlier this year, their first series win in the Caribbean since 1968, and completed a 3-0 victory over New Zealand on home soil last month.
They remain in second place in the ICC Test Championship behind Australia. The second Test starts on Thursday at Edgbaston - Giles's home ground.
