England v West Indies: Broad wary of Chanderpaul threat

Stuart Broad admitted England must “reassess” their plans for Shivnarine Chanderpaul after he helped West Indies post a tally of 243-9 in day one of the first Test at Lord’s on Thursday.

Broad took six wickets on a good day for England’s bowlers, but Chanderpaul made a typically dogged innings of 87 to ensure his side remained in contention.

“Chanderpaul has played the ball very late, which is what you have to do when it’s swinging. We will have to reassess our plans to him a little bit because he was excellent today,” Broad told the BBC.

Captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and sent the tourists in to bat, hoping to make the most of the overcast conditions, as well as the perceived weakness of the West Indies batsmen against the swinging ball.

He looked to have made a good decision when James Anderson struck twice inside the first 13 overs, bowling Kieran Powell with an excellent in-swinging delivery and then trapping Kirk Edwards lbw, to reduce the West Indies to 32-2.

Broad claimed his first victim shortly after the lunch break, Barath falling for 42 – caught in the gully by Anderson playing a loose shot outside off stump.

Graeme Swann spurned an excellent chance to make another breakthrough not long after, dropping Bravo off the bowling of Anderson.

However, it was not a mistake England were forced to dwell on for too long as the diminutive left hander lost his wicket, in slightly comical fashion, the very next over.

A horrible mix up between the two batsmen left them both at the striker’s end and Bravo was run out by Swann at the other end, despite an awful throw from Matt Prior.

New batsman Marlon Samuels combined effectively with Chanderpaul either side of the tea interval to once again thwart England’s onslaught following the fall of wickets.

However, Samuels then became the third West Indies batsman of the day to give his wicket away having put some runs on the board, driving a wide delivery from Broad to debutant Jonny Bairstow at point.

Broad added the wickets of Dinesh Ramdin, caught at slip by Strauss for six, and then with the new ball West Indies captain Darren Sammy, caught off a leading edge at gully by Tim Bresnan for 17, to leave the tourists 219-7.

Kemar Roach became Broad’s fifth victim, caught and bowled for six, before Chanderpaul was made to rue his decision to expose tail-ender Fidel Edwards as the bowler became Broad’s sixth wicket, caught behind by a diving Prior.

West Indies were 243-9 at the close of play, and Broad was delighted England were able bounce back from the initial setback of winning the toss and exceed expectations on day one.

“Winning the toss and bowling always puts a bit of pressure on the bowling group,” Broad added.

“We realised it was never going to be 100 all out wicket but we said before the day we would be happy with seven down. To have them nine down is really pleasing and they didn’t get away from us at many stages.”

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