Once fallible Windies turn a new leaf

There is something a little bit different about this West Indies side, a steely quality that has been lacking for years. It was evident in the field and now it has been evident with the bat. For the most part it wasn't flamboyant, but when a side is rebuilding, as West Indies are, cautious steps are often the best way.

Five-out, all-out has been a West Indies theme on many occasions in the recent past, in effect batting with half a team. Take last year on this ground, for example, when they slid from 260 for 4 to 312 all out against Australia. That was just one of many comparisons that could be made. Their first innings in this game was threatening to go the same way, albeit in slow motion, as they lost 4 for 34 in 29 overs with England suffocating the top order following the 202-run stand between Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

"It's something we have talked about and have said we need to consolidate," Gayle said. "This first Test is very important, we didn't want to let England back into the game easily and so we knew we would have to get our heads down and bat as long as possible."

When England toured in 2003-04 the bottoming out of the West Indies order was a feature of the series. In the first innings in Jamaica they lost 5 for 30, in both innings in Trinidad they succumbed rapidly and in Barbados they lost 7 for 47. Two further innings didn't allow them a chance of a tail-end collapse because they ended for 47 and 94, while the final one went to the other extreme and closed on 751 for 5 thanks to Brian Lara's 400.

Gayle, with a home-town hundred to mark Bob Marley's birthday, and Sarwan combined superbly in their stand of 202, however both failed to build on their excellent innings as England clawed their way back. It was West Indies' first double-century partnership against England since Lara and Sarwan added 209 at Edgbaston in 2004. They lost that match as well in another example of a high-quality stand not being put to good use.

This was a situation made for Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but he blocked his way to 20 off 86 balls before being extracted by Stuart Broad. The man who has batted for unbroken stints of 1000 minutes on four occasions in recent years was gone in a relative flash, and the importance of his wicket was demonstrated by the fact that he tried to save himself with a referral. The innings was at its tipping point, and a West Indies side of the not-too-distant past could have folded. Instead they did anything but.

England are no doubt expecting some long confrontations with Australian batsmen this year, but they probably didn't expect it to start at Sabina Park. However, they were now faced with Brendan Nash, the stubborn left-hander resembling a more turgid Mike Hussey, who has provided some glue to a previously brittle middle order.

"You have to give him a lot of credit, he's been in good form with two half centuries from the Test matches he has played [in New Zealand] and like I said it is good to see someone stepping up to play against quality bowlers as well," Gayle said. "Hopefully he can go on now and get the support from [Sulieman] Benn, [Daren] Powell and [Fidel] Edwards."

Nash's embryonic Test career has already been marked out by his ability to occupy the crease. During the two Tests in New Zealand he made scores of 72 off 164 balls and 65 from 172. Here he has already faced 146 deliveries for his 47. Chanderpaul would be proud of those numbers.

He wasn't alone in providing the middle-order with some ballast as Denesh Ramdin did a fine impression of the local rum by giving the innings a bit of a kick. "It would have been nice to get a few more runs but obviously our objective was to keep wickets in hand," Gayle said. "Hopefully the guys can capitalise and hopefully Nashy can go and get a big one."

West Indies should take heart, too, from this statistic. In 2004, England battled tooth and nail to reach a lead of 28 and proceeded to bowl West Indies out for 47 on the fourth day. Nothing has suggested such a dramatic turn of events in this game - the pitch is too slow - but already much of the action has confounded expectation.