Cricket: Alastair Cook Hits Ton on First Day Against West Indies

Alastair Cook gave England a flying start to their international summer by hitting an unbeaten century in the first Test against West Indies.

The Essex left-hander reached his fifth Test century in only 15 appearances in late afternoon at Lord's on a first day disrupted by rain and bad light.

His four-hour innings, which included 10 boundaries, helped England reach a competitive 200 for three before another rain interruption after West Indies had won the toss and decided to bowl first in seamer-friendly conditions.

Cook enjoyed an 88-run opening stand with stand-in captain Andrew Strauss, which exploited the disrupted warm-up suffered by the tourists with their bowlers unable to bowl a ball during their rain-hit warm-up match in Taunton.

That lack of practice caused problems for the tourists' attack as they struggled for line and length, which they only found after lunch with the capture of two wickets in four overs for seamer Daren Powell.

Strauss had battled to 33 when he drove loosely outside off-stump and was caught at point by Devon Smith, the first of three catches for him on the opening day.

Four overs later Owais Shah fell for a disappointing six when he edged Powell to third slip after coming in as a replacement for the injured Andrew Flintoff, who failed a fitness test on his troublesome left ankle.

Kevin Pietersen helped Cook add 59 in between breaks for bad light but that clearly affected his concentration and he drove Corey Collymore to cover just two overs after one such interruption.

But Cook remained determined and applied himself to claim his second century in three Tests at Lord's to give coach Peter Moores a positive start to his first day in charge.