May 22, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 05, 1428

LONDON, May 21: England and West Indies drew the first Test at Lord's on Monday as the weather had the final say in the opening encounter of the four-match series. West Indies finished the fifth day on 89 without loss, 312 runs short of their victory target of 401, but having comfortably avoided any prospect of defeat during a last day where rain and bad light meant only 20 of the scheduled 98 overs were bowled.

Steady drizzle ended the morning's play after 34 minutes and bad light brought a premature close after 45 minutes in the afternoon. Play was finally called off at 5.50 p.m (1650 GMT).

The odds had been slightly more in favour of England taking 10 wickets in a day as opposed to West Indies scoring the runs they required.

However, openers Chris Gayle (47 not out) and Daren Ganga (31 not out) were largely untroubled by Durham new-ball duo Stephen Harmison and Liam Plunkett.

Now the teams travel north to Headingley where the second Test is set to start on Friday.

If England were to force an unlikely win they badly needed Harmison, playing his first international since a disappointing Ashes tour, to find his form after a wayward first innings return of one for 117.

But his first delivery after lunch, a no-ball, was cut by Ganga for a four that saw the batsman reach 2,000 runs in Test cricket.

Plunkett was then thrashed through the covers off the backfoot in cavalier style by Gayle.

Andrew Strauss, England's captain in the absence of the injured Michael Vaughan, soon had just two slips in for Gayle despite having plenty of runs to play with.

It wasn't long before Strauss turned to left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who'd starred in the first innings with six for 129.

Panesar, who had been due to bowl Monday's ninth over when rain stopped play, came on in the 14th. But Ganga off-drove his third ball for four in front of a sparse crowd before bad light halted proceedings.

That England, in their first match under new coach Peter Moores, set a stiff chase owed much to Kevin Pietersen's dashing 109 in a second innings total of 284 for eight declared.

West Indies, who had seen England pile up an imposing 553 for five declared in their first innings, avoided the follow-on but were bowled out for 437.

Their performance was all the more creditable given that two days of their three-day game against Somerset, their lone warm-up fixture in England, were washed out.

Panesar's haul included five lbws — the first time this had been achieved in a Test innings by a spinner and only the fifth instance in all.

England's first innings saw Matt Prior become the first England wicket-keeper to score a century on Test debut with a rapid 126 not out.

Paul Collingwood (111), Ian Bell (109 not out) and Alastair Cook (105) also reached three figures, four England batsmen scoring hundreds in the same Test innings for the first time in 69 years.

A draw gives the tourists breathing space before Headingley and ensures there will be no repetition of the 4-0 whitewash four years ago.

England captain Michael Vaughan, who fractured a finger, is likely to return for the Headingley Test in place of Owais Shah, who made six and four as a replacement for injured all rounder Andrew Flintoff.

Flintoff, who failed a fitness test on his left ankle before the Lord's match, played as a batsman for Lancashire at the weekend and will be reassessed before the second Test.

Opening bowler Matthew Hoggard played no further part in the match after leaving the field with a thigh injury on Saturday and is unlikely to play in Leeds.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 553-5 declared (M.J. Prior 126 not out, P.D. Collingwood 111, I.R. Bell 109 not out A.N. Cook 105).

West Indies (1st Innings) 437 (S. Chanderpaul 74, D. Ramdin 60, D.J. Bravo 56; M.S. Panesar 6-129).

ENGLAND (2nd Innings) 284-8 declared (K.P. Pietersen 109 not out, A.N. Cook 65).

WEST INDIES (2nd Innings, overnight 7-0):

C.H. Gayle not out 47

D. Ganga not out 31

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-3, NB-1) 11

TOTAL (for no wkt, 22 overs) 89

BOWLING: Harmison 8-1-21-0 (1nb, 2w); Plunkett 11-1-48-0 (1w); Panesar 3-0-13-0.

RESULT: Match drawn.

UMPIRES: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: N.J. Llong (England).

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Alastair Cook.

SECOND TEST: Headingley, May 25-29.

THIRD TEST: Old Trafford, June 7-11.

FOURTH TEST: Chester-le-Street, June 15-19.—Agencies