England Nears Victory in Opening Cricket Test With West Indies

Ian Bell and Alastair Cook combined for 74 runs to push England to 131-4 at lunch on the final day of the opening cricket Test with West Indies at Lord’s in London.

The hosts, which started the day on 10-2, need 60 runs to win. Cook is on 53 and Bell on 34 after Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen were both out for 13, putting pressure on England.

Top-ranked England lost captain Andrew Strauss and nightwatchman James Anderson at the end of day four. Kemar Roach is 3-41, having taken both wickets yesterday and that of Trott today. Pietersen was caught by Denesh Ramdin off Shannon Gabriel.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels shared a 157-run partnership to help West Indies to 345 in its second innings. Chanderpaul made 91, Samuels 86, while Denesh Ramdin scored 43.

West Indies hasn’t won an away Test in a country other than bottom-ranked Bangladesh since winning in South Africa in December 2007.

England needs to win the three-match series to stay atop the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings ahead of South Africa. It is undefeated in its last 12 Tests at Lord’s since a defeat to Australia in the 2005 Ashes Test at the venue.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Elser in London at celser@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net