An opening stand of 229 featuring a century from captain Andrew Strauss lifted England to a commanding 301 for three on the first day of the fourth Test against West Indies in Barbados on Thursday. Strauss made an excellent 142 after winning the toss and was well assisted by Alastair Cook, who struck 94, in a record English first-wicket partnership against West Indies. “I feel pretty balanced and I'm seeing the ball pretty well,” Strauss said. “I think we all know when you feel like that and you're in good nick, you have to make it count. And I was delighted to get a hundred today.” The hosts will have gained some encouragement, however, from their performance in the final session when they removed both openers and Owais Shah (7) to peg back England's run rate. But Chris Gayle's side will be rueing Jerome Taylor's drop of Kevin Pietersen off Fidel Edwards just before stumps, one of three spilled catches during the day. Pietersen was unbeaten on 32 at the close with Paul Collingwood on 11. West Indies leads the five-match series 1-0. Younis tops Test ranking Pakistan skipper Younis Khan has jumped six places to become the number one ranked Test batsman after his mammoth 313 in the drawn first Test against Sri Lanka. Younis, who became only the third Pakistan player to score a Test triple hundred on Tuesday, overtook West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings, released on Thursday. However, Younis holds a slender one-point lead over Chanderpaul, who stays ahead of Kumar Sangakkara and his Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who made 240 in the Karachi Test.
