BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

West Indies found success hard to come on a day that started with great promise, when England's openers gave their side a formidable base in the fourth Test yesterday.

Andrew Strauss hit his 16th Test hundred of 142 and Alastair Cook fell for 94, as England piled up 301 for three in their first innings at the close on the opening day.

West Indies were made to toil long and hard for the scalps of Strauss and Cook, following a record opening stand of 229, after England chose to bat on a hard, true Kensington Oval pitch under bright and sunny skies.

Sixty-year-old record erased

Powell removed Strauss about 10 minutes after tea, and his compatriot Jerome Taylor snared Cook about 25 minutes later.

The two fast bowlers struck, after the two openers had erased the previous first-wicket record for England against West Indies of 212, set almost six decades ago between Reg Simpson and Cyril Washbrook at Nottingham.

Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn gave West Indies a boost, when he added the scalp of Owais Shah for seven in the final hour.

West Indies started to claw their way back in an action-packed first half-hour after tea, when they collected the scalps of Strauss and Cook in the space of 31 deliveries.

Powell bowled Strauss with an unplayable in-swinging yorker with the 13th ball after tea. The England captain had batted for a little over four hours and struck 18 fours and one six from his 210 balls.

Powell had a shot at another breakthrough in his following over, when Cook - on 85 - hooked at a short, rising ball and skied to deep mid-wicket, where Benn muffed a chance running in off the boundary

But fortune favoured Powell's compatriot Jerome Taylor, when Cook hooked at another short, rising delivery, and Ryan Hinds ran from backward square leg to mid-wicket, where he dived and held a fine catch inches from the flawless-looking turf.

Benn then lifted West Indies' mood, when he had Owais Shah caught at slip top-edging a cut after the England batsman spent just over an hour over seven.

Things could have swung decisively for West Indies had Taylor held a skier, when Kevin Pietersen, on nine, top-edged a hook at another short, rising ball from Fidel Edwards to deep fine leg in the second full over with the second new ball.

The miss has started the cost West Indies, as Pietersen helped England to cross the 300-run threshold and has briskly added 42 - unbroken - with Paul Collingwood for the fourth wicket.

Earlier, things had started on a sour note for West Indies, as England reached 108 without loss lunch.

West Indies had one golden opportunity to separate the two openers before the interval, but their captain Chris Gayle dropped Strauss - on 58 - at first slip off Fidel Edwards.

Near miss

In the previous over, West Indies also came close, when Strauss - on 50 - edged Benn past diving slip fielder Devon Smith for his ninth boundary.

Benn had been the grieving bowler, when Strauss drove the previous delivery through cover for his eighth four to reach his 50 from 71 balls.

Things were going so pear-shaped for West Indies before lunch that Cook hit his second six in Tests, when he clattered Benn just over the mid-wicket boundary in the last 15 minutes before the interval.

After lunch, West Indies again hunted in vain for their first wicket, as Strauss brought up his second hundred of the series and Cook passed 50 for the third straight innings, as England reached 221 without loss at tea.

With the West Indies bowlers emasculated by the pitch, Strauss and Cook held firm to post their record stand.

ENGLAND 1st Innings