West Indies swing and miss their chance

West Indies dominated more than half the first day of the first Test at Old Trafford. When they were good - as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo blunted the attack and added 157 in afternoon sunshine - they looked England's equals. But when they were bad they were pretty horrid, and wickets arrived in gangs at the start and end of the day. That left them down overall, at 275 for 6 at the close.

For England supporters with longish memories it was horribly familiar: West Indies played England in very much the way successive England teams played the fading but still frightening West Indies sides of the late 1980s and early '90s. Even when they were on top there was a gnawing suspicion of the law of averages kicking in, and the manifestly superior team prevailing.

Today was the first chance of the series for West Indies' strong batting line-up to give England a bloody nose before the opposition batsmen had pummelled them to a pulp. In the first two Tests England made more than 560 in the first innings of the match, against a raw attack. Today, West Indies won the toss and batted. The pitch was flat. The sun was shining off the roof of the Victorian brick pavilion. Brian Lara lurked within.

An hour after lunch it looked very much like they had swung and missed their opponent. Lara had gone for nought; it looked very likely West Indies' innings, at 108 for 4, would amount to the same. But Chanderpaul and Bravo added 157. Bravo biffed happily but selectively; the crab-like Chanderpaul - all open stance and fidgety nudges, as if he had itching powder in his jockstrap - relied on placement.

Together they changed the scoreboard - but not the tone of the game. Throughout, a collapse always seemed just round the corner, causing a nervousness in West Indian spectators grimly familiar to watchers of England. It always felt like what was solid could vanish into thin air - just as it had when seven wickets evaporated for less than 40 in the last Test.

And sure enough, one wicket brought two, and may have brought more before bad light and rain stopped play. Rain at Old Trafford: that felt a touch familiar too.

Paul Coupar is assistant editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.