PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, (Reuters) - England fast bowler Steve Harmison repeated his Jamaica heroics with five wickets for 48 as West Indies slithered to 189 for eight on a rain-affected opening day of the second Test yesterday.
Humiliated by 10 wickets in the first Test, West Indies looked on course for a big total when they reached 100 without loss, but Harmison - who took seven for 12 in the first Test - grabbed three wickets in eight balls as England took control.
A useful unbeaten 29 from wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs helped lift the home crowd but Harmison was the hero once again, his ability to glean extra bounce out of the wicket causing the undoing of the West Indies batsmen.
Following their crushing defeat in Jamaica, West Indies captain Brian Lara had demanded a positive response from his players and after winning the toss, his request was met with superb batting from Chris Gayle and Devon Smith.
Gayle, hugely disappointing in front of his home crowd in Jamaica, punished any wayward deliveries from the England bowlers, crashing nine fours and a six to reach his 13th Test fifty from just 58 balls.
Andrew Flintoff induced false strokes from both players, while Ashley Giles might have done better when Gayle flashed a cut just off the ground to gully.
With Smith, a centurion in the first innings in Jamaica, going along smoothly, West Indies reached their century 15 minutes before lunch.
But just as it looked as if they would end the session without losing a wicket, England captain Michael Vaughan switched Harmison to the Pavilion End and the move paid immediate dividends.
SEVEN BOUNDARIES
First Gayle was comfortably caught by wicketkeeper Chris Read for 62 after 12 fours and one six then in Harmison's next over Smith was trapped lbw for 35, having hit seven boundaries.
Lara came out to a standing ovation from his home crowd but he lasted just four balls as a lifter from Harmison caught the shoulder of his bat and Giles took the catch diving forward at gully.
The resumption was put back 83 minutes because of rain, but when the teams returned, Simon Jones removed Shivnarine Chanderpaul for two to leave West Indies 113-4 before rain again forced them off, this time for 100 minutes.
When they came back, Dwayne Smith, in for the ill Ryan Hinds, took the attack to England with one fine pull for six off Harmison, but the fast bowler got his man for 16 soon after, another attempted pull from the all-rounder going tamely straight to Nasser Hussain at short mid-wicket.
Ramnaresh Sarwan then fell for 21, edging Harmison to Flintoff at second slip to give the bowler his third five-wicket haul in Tests. Shortly afterwards Hoggard removed Tino Best, caught behind for one.
Adam Sanford was run-out for one by a long throw from the boundary by Vaughan, though the captain was guilty of a poor drop when he put down Jacobs with the batsman on 28.
England, leading the four-match series 1-0, named an unchanged side from the one that won in Jamaica. Pedro Collins replaced his half-brother Fidel Edwards in the West Indies team.
WEST INDIES
C.Gayle c Read b Harmison 62
Devon Smith lbw b Harmison 35
R.Sarwan c Flintoff b Harmison 21
B.Lara c Giles b Harmison 0
S.Chanderpaul c Read b Jones 2
Dwayne Smith c Hussain b Harmison 16
R.Jacobs not out 29
T.Best c Read b Hoggard 1
A.Sanford run-out 1
P.Collins not out 6
Extras: (lb-7, w-6, nb-3) 16
Total: (for eight wickets, 54 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-110, 3-110, 4-113, 5-142, 6-143, 7-148, 8-165.