Smith leads West Indies recovery with century

Cricket First Test: Ashley Giles recovered from a dramatic start to England's Caribbean series to claim the crucial wicket of West Indies' century-maker Devon Smith and bring a temporary halt to their worrying counter-attack in the first Test in Kingston, Jamaica.

England's premier left-arm spinner, the only specialist slow bowler in the tourists' seam-dominated attack, earned his reward for perseverance to end the superb innings of 22-year-old opener Smith after he had threatened to propel West Indies to a competitive first innings total.

Smith hammered 18 boundaries in his maiden Test century and showed remarkable composure for a player in only his fifth Test.

West Indies had slumped to 101 for four despite captain Brian Lara winning the toss on a Sabina Park wicket expected to display variable bounce as the match develops.

His 122-run partnership, spanning 25 overs with Ryan Hinds, had shifted the momentum firmly towards the hosts and even forced Giles out of the attack earlier in the day after he was hammered for 20 runs in his opening two overs.

But the Warwickshire spinner showed his great strength of character to return and have Smith stumped by wicketkeeper Chris Read as he attempted a sweep shot, earning England an overdue breakthrough as West Indies progressed to 311 for 9 before play was stopped for bad light on the opening day.

Hinds then continued the good work for the West Indies, reaching 84 before being caught by Mark Butcher off another Giles delivery.

While Smith had dominated the later stages, it was England's attack who claimed the upper hand early on with Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison marking their return to the Test side by claiming a wicket apiece inside the first nine overs of the match.

Opener Chris Gayle was the first to fall in the sixth over when he got an inside edge onto his stumps from a Harmison short delivery to earn the Durham fast bowler an early success on his return to the England side after missing the tour to Sri Lanka with a side strain sustained in Bangladesh.

Hoggard followed that breakthrough with another three overs later to remove the potentially-dangerous Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Pitching the ball up to the only right-handed batsman in West Indies' top six, Hoggard swung the ball back into him and rapped him firmly on the pads to give umpire Daryl Harper a relatively comfortable leg before decision.

That brought Lara, rated as the world's number one batsman, to the crease with an important responsibility to prevent England gaining momentum and running through the top order. He helped forge a 51-run partnership with Smith but became the prize scalp for Simon Jones, making his England comeback following 16 months' rehabilitation from a cruciate knee ligament injury sustained against Australia at Brisbane in November 2002.

Jones' comeback could not have gone much better than removing Lara with his 13th delivery when he pushed forward to a full-length ball and edged straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip for 23.

Lara's demise prompted great celebrations, but England were delayed in their hopes of making further inroads by Smith's impressive progress to a half-century which included nine boundaries.