ST JOHN’S (Antigua), Feb 15: Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook gave England a confident start to the third Test against West Indies on Sunday.

At the lunch interval, England, sent in to bat, were 58 without loss with Strauss not out on 34 and Cook not out on 24 on the opening day of the Test which was hastily arranged, following the aborted second Test at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium on Friday.

All doubts about the pitch and the outfield were quickly put to rest, once openers Strauss, the England captain, and his deputy Cook knuckled down and started to play their strokes on a typically hard, easy-paced Antigua Recreation Ground pitch.

Strauss was the more fluent with seven boundaries including a couple of well-timed straight drives, and Cook too, found his range with a searing cut off Chris Gayle’s uncomplicated off-spin.

The start had been delayed by 45 minutes, following overnight and early morning rain which affected parts of the parched outfield with an area straight behind the wicket at the northern end being the most troublesome.

But following an inspection by the umpires at the scheduled start time of 1400 GMT, the toss was spun and players came trekking out about half-hour later.

West Indies made no changes to their 11 that took the field for the aborted second Test, but England brought Steve Harmison and Graeme Swann in to replace Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar.

The ARG was cleared to stage the match late on Saturday, following an inspection from ICC Match Referee Allan Hurst.

“I’m very happy with the ground,” he told reporters. “I think in the 24 hours they’ve had to prepare the ground they’ve done a fantastic job.

“There are a few problems with the [outfield] and it is not perfect, but they’ve done as good a job as they could have and the pitch looks great.”

The ARG is hosting a Test for the first time in three years, after the second Test scheduled for the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium was abandoned on Friday because of an unsuitable outfield.

Only 10 balls were possible in the second Test before the umpires, after consultation with the two captains and the match referee chose to abort the Test.

West Indies lead the series which now comprises five Tests 1-0, following an innings and 23-run victory in the opening match at Kingston inside four days.

The other two Tests in the series take place at Kensington Oval in Barbados from Feb 26 to March 2, and Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad from March 2 to 6.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

A.J. Strauss not out 34

A.N. Cook not out 24

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for no wkt, 18 overs) 58

TO BAT: O.A. Shah, K.P. Pietersen, P.D. Collingwood, A. Flintoff, M.J. Prior, S.C.J. Broad, G.P. Swann, S.J. Harmison, J.M. Anderson.

BOWLING (to-date): Taylor 5-0-19-0; Edwards 2-0-11-0; Powell 5-2-14-0; Gayle 4-0-12-0; Benn 2-1-2-0.

WEST INDIES: C.H. Gayle, D.S. Smith, R.R. Sarwan, S. Chanderpaul, B.P. Nash R.O. Hinds, D. Ramdin, J.E. Taylor, S.J. Benn, D.B.L. Powell, F.H. Edwards.

UMPIRES: D.J. Harper (Australia) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: N.A. Malcolm (West Indies).

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