Cook, Bopara flay ragged Windies

AGENCIES
Posted on 2009-05-15
CHESTER-LE-STREET- Centuries from Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara took England to 302-2 after the opening day of the second Test against the West Indies at the Riverside on Thursday.Andrew Strauss chose to bat and was caught behind off Chris Gayle for 26. Cook played watchfully to record his ninth Test century, finishing unbeaten on 126 from 262 balls with 14 fours. He shared 213 with Bopara, who moved into the 90s with a four, six and four and became only the fifth Englishman to make three successive Test hundreds.
Bopara, playing in his sixth Test, followed England greats Herbert Sutcliffe, Denis Compton, Geoffrey Boycott and Graham Gooch in achieving the feat.
The 24-year-old Essex batsman, who lists Gooch as one of his heroes, has had a remarkable Test career.
Having been dropped after making three ducks in Sri Lanka in 2007, he finally returned to the team with a century in the Caribbean last winter, only to be dropped to make way for an extra bowler, but then came back again with a century at number three at Lord’s last week.
His innings at the Riverside was a marvellous innings full of inventive stroke play, and following his stint in the Indian Premier League, proof that the Twenty20 format can have a positive influence on the five-day game.
Given the much-publicised quotes about his apparent apathy towards Test cricket it would be too easy to say Gayle quickly lost interest in this match, but once again the West Indies looked a very ordinary side, and their chances of levelling the series and retaining the Wisden Trophy look decidedly distant. Both teams were unchanged, England keen to maintain a winning side, while for the tourists it was more a case of a lack of favourable alternatives than being content with their line-up.