Bopara's maiden ton puts Eng in control
England batsman Ravi Bopara raises his bat after scoring his maiden century on the second day of the fourth Test against the West Indies at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Friday.Photo: AFP
Ravi Bopara marked his first Test since 2007 with a maiden century as England posted 600-6 declared on Day Two of the fourth Test against West Indies on Friday.
Later James Anderson removed Chris Gayle lbw after a TV referral but the hosts had reached 85-1 by stumps in Barbados.
Bopara (104) shared stands of 149 with Collingwood (94) and Tim Ambrose (76no) before the tourists declared.
They had resumed the day on 301-3 and, despite Kevin Pietersen falling early for 41, put on 299 in 63.2 overs.
England captain Andrew Strauss will be happy with how the day panned out for his side, who made 600 for the first time since 2003 and only the second time ever in the Caribbean.
They scored heavily and quickly to amass a huge total and then bowled with discipline and variety to make inroads into the West Indian batting line-up.
Strauss must now hope for a steady stream of wickets on Day Three and will be buoyed by the knowledge that England, 1-0 down in the five-match series, have time and runs on their side.
West Indies batsmen Devon Smith (37 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (40 not out) need to continue laying a solid foundation from which their side can build if they are to remain in contention.
The hosts made a positive start on Friday morning when Fidel Edwards (3-152) trapped Pietersen plumb in front of his stumps and, despite a frivolous referral to the third umpire, the batsman was correctly given his marching orders.
Pietersen, who was dropped on 20 by Jerome Taylor the previous evening, struggled for rhythm and had already edged Taylor just short of Gayle at first slip before he was ousted.
It was important for England to negotiate their way through a venomous spell from Taylor and Edwards but things could have got worse when new man Bopara miscued Edwards to Taylor at square leg.
Fortunately for Bopara -- keen to justify his selection in place of the injured Andrew Flintoff -- the catch was put down and he responded by pulling Taylor for successive fours and hooking Edwards for six.
Clearly riled by the treatment dished out to him, Edwards continued to send down some devilish bouncers, one of which smashed into Bopara's helmet and left him requiring treatment from the England physiotherapist.
But West Indies failed to maintain the intensity and, aside from one extremely difficult half-chance -- Collingwood was technically dropped at short-leg when he middled Sulieman Benn into the chest of Ryan Hinds -- England began to make serene progress.
Collingwood produced a superb on-drive to dispatch Edwards to the rope and Bopara ruthlessly cut Benn and on-drove Daren Powell to the same effect.
Although Collingwood almost played on to Powell, he nudged the same bowler for three to record his 12th Test half-century as the tourists reached an impressive 405-4 at lunch.
After the interval, the Durham all-rounder ruthlessly dispatched Powell, Benn and Brendan Nash, while Bopara brought up his first Test half-century with a nudged boundary.
The pair traded in ones and twos to guide their side past the 450 mark but just as Collingwood looked set to cap his classy innings with a century, he sliced an attempted slog off Edwards to Nash at deep point.
West Indies could have had another wicket moments later when Ambrose was dropped by wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin as he tried to get off the mark by cutting Hinds.
Part-time spinner Hinds struck up a determined partnership with Edwards and, for a short period, West Indies were able to frustrate England in their search for quick runs.
But Ambrose grew in confidence, sweeping Hinds for two maximums and displaying the sort of strokemaking that could give the selectors a tough decision when first-choice wicketkeeper Matt Prior returns to the Caribbean in time for the final Test.
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