Jonathan Trott took most significant advantage of easy pickings from Bangladesh to post his second Test hundred as England predictably piled up the runs at Lord's. No 3 Trott (175 not out) first shared a stand of 181 with his captain Andrew Strauss (83) and then an unbeaten stand of 104 runs with debutant No 5 batsman Eoin Morgan (40 not out). Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell all missed out on the opportunity to cash in, on a pitch of good pace and even bounce for this first npower Test of the summer. But Trott and Strauss needed no second bidding, after some necessary early caution to ensure seven for one did not turn into anything more embarrassing on a cloudy morning. Bangladesh, who won the toss on a cloudy morning, used the new ball well and Shahadat Hossain was rewarded for his efforts with Cook's wicket for seven. The opener had contributed England's first boundary, a well-timed off drive to the pavilion fence off Shahadat in the third over, only to fall to the same bowler in the fifth. Shahadat beat the bat with a ball which pitched on middle and straightened into the left-hander, but appeared to hit him a little high. Umpire Asoka de Silva thought differently and Cook had to go lbw. Once the second-wicket pair had got their heads down, the rewards were theirs for the taking ? and it was not until past mid-afternoon that Bangladesh at last managed a second strike when Strauss fell short of what had seemed a certain hundred. Strauss, back after being rested for the 2-0 victory over the same opponents on the sub-Continent, played the percentages throughout until he eventually chose the wrong ball to cut and bottom-edged off-spinner Mahmudullah on to his stumps.
New batsman Pietersen (18) was almost immediately climbing into a series of dismissive drives on the up through the off-side ? only to suffer a reprise of his winter tribulations against Bangladesh's slow left-armers, bowled off stump as he attempted to hit Shakib Al Hasan inside out.
It therefore fell to Trott and Ian Bell, so prolific against Bangladesh on many past occasions, to make sure the minor wobble against spin did not take hold. The Warwickshire pair made it to tea on 231 for 3, but shortly after Bell was back in the pavilion after once again playing himself in. On 17, Bell was caught flat-footed in his crease as a Rubel Hossain delivery nipped back in to hit his middle stump. Dublin-born Morgan then made his entrance to Test cricket. Usually a free-scoring unorthodox batsman, he was reserved with his stroke play, valuing his wicket. Indeed with Trott free-scoring towards his 150, Morgan nudged his way to 40 at stumps with some flashes of his one-day form. It was Trott though who ended the day with a sublime glance off his pads for four ? his 17 boundary ? to keep the small Lord's crowd enthralled.
England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Andeson, Steven Finn Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Jahurul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Rubiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain * PA
