THE burden with which the West Indies immediately saddled themselves through their attrocious cricket on the first day finally became too heavy to bear yesterday.
They had held on tenaciously by their finger tips for seven consecutive sessions to prevent the first Test from completely slipping out of their grasp.
But their hold was finally loosened after lunch as the England captain Michael Vaughan accelerated to his second hundred of the match and Andy Flintoff, the new folk hero of English cricket, belted two sixes and six fours in 58 from 42 balls.
Vaughan joined the great West Indian George Headley, in 1939, and the England captain, Graham Gooch, against India in 1990, as the only batsmen to complete the double at Lord's, perfectly measuring his unbeaten innings of 101 that followed his first innings 107.
He spent 102 balls compiling his 50, arriving at the landmark in an over from left-armer Pedro Collins in which he struck four fours.
It was the signal for acceleration and he rushed to his second 50 from 43 balls.
He and Flintoff thumped 92 together from 11 overs, hastening his declaration 25 minutes before the appointed tea interval as soon as Flintoff was Collins' third victim of the innings, seventh of the match.
It offered the West Indies two alternatives - scoring a record 478 for an unlikely win or holding out for the remaining minimum 125 overs to earn a creditable draw.
In the 28 overs before fading light ended play half-hour early, they were 114 for three.
Captain Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, backbone of the first innings with his unbeaten 123, resume this morning, the two longest-serving members of the team whose proven record identifies as the two most likely to frustrate England.
The closing session was notable for an exhilarating, if lucky, exhibition of typically explosive strokes by Chris Gayle.
The tall, left-handed opener followed his 66 in the first innings with 81 off 88 balls, scattering the crowd in the Mound Stand with a swept six off left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and reeling off 13 fours besides.
But he could not survive the day. He was engaged in a riveting contest with Steve Harmison, who generated more pace and aggression than at any time on a pitch slow enough to neuter the fast bowlers.
Gayle included a couple of sliced chances to keeper and gully and seven boundaries, mostly rasping cuts and backfoot drives, off England's spearhead.
He was finally undone by Harmison's yorker to which he could only get the inside edge of the bat and he headed for the pavilion with his leg stump out of the ground. It was Harmison's first wicket of the match. Devon Smith, lbw on the backfoot in Giles' first over, and Ramnaresh Sarwan, had both gone cheaply before him.
Sarwan's miserable match was ended, as it was in the first innings and three times in the first two Tests in the preceding series in the Caribbean, with an lbw decision as he came across his stumps to play Simon Hoggard to leg.
The vice-captain, who now carries responsibilities of leadership, has been a worrying shadow of himself throughout the match.
Apart from his batting problems, he has been unusually slow in the field where he had taken to underarming the ball from the deep, a method out of place at the highest level. While Flintoff was on the rampage, towards the end of England's innings, he sliced Collins to deep cover where Sarwan, usually such a reliable catcher, muffed a dolly.
Lara, for once, was the silent observer of Gayle's fireworks, spending more than half-hour and 18 balls before he scored.
Chanderpaul, who replaced Gayle, would have followed his unbeaten, first innings 123 with a first ball duck had umpire Rudi Koertzen's detected the gloved catch to short-leg off Giles that was obvious from the tv replay.
The West Indies know from recent experience the consequences of a bad opening day, indeed a few bad hours, against stronger, more confident teams.
The situations in Tests against South Africa in Johannesburg last December and Australia in Port-of-Spain in 2003 were almost identical.
While England amassed 391 for two on the first day here, South Africa ended the opening day 369 for three, Australia 391 for three. England were all out for 568, South Africa for 561, Australia closed at 576 for four.
In each case, it left the West Indies with a desperate struggle for survival but they made a fair fist of it with respective first innings totals of 410, 408 and 416.
In normal circumstances, that would have been enough to guarantee a competitive contest. But the West Indies bowlers and fielders had leaked runs so rapidly at the start their opponents had plenty of time to finish them off - as both South Africa and Australia did midway through the final day and England are poised to do sometime this afternoon.
The West Indies would not have found themselves in such a predicament had they bowled earlier as they did in the last session on Saturday and the first session yesterday.
They were handicapped by the absence of Tino Best who has become the second fast bowler to go down with injury.
A muscle strain in his hip is unlikely to end his tour, as Ravi Rampaul's foot problems have ended his, but with the second Test starting Thursday it must be of real concern.
For the entire first session of two hours, Lara kept Omari Banks' going for 16 consecutive overs from the Nursery End.
He was unrecognisable as the off-spinner who couldn't help send down a couple of long-hops an over and the occasional full toss.
His accuracy, turn, drift and flight took careful watching as he conceded only 45 runs. He could not claim a wicket but it was a heartening spell all the same.
The wickets went to Collins and Chanderpaul, with a run out.
Collins plucked out Marcus Trescothick's middle-stump with a peerless yorker, and removed Andrew Strauss who, for once, fell well short of another hundred at Lord's by pulling a catch to square-leg.
Chanderpaul's direct hit from cover found Robert Key well short of his ground after confusion of a summons for a single from his captain and, at 117 for three an hour into the day, the West Indies had made good progress.
It stopped there.
Vaughan and left-handed Graham Thorpe added 116 at better than run a minute on either side of lunch as Lara rung the bowling changes.
After Thorpe pushed a gentle return catch off Gayle's off-spin, Flintoff arrived to a situation made for his big hitting.
Twice he launched Banks over long-on for six to the delight of another sizeable crowd. Repeatedly, his meaty strokes beat deep set fielders to the ropes.
By the time the declaration was made, the force was well and truly with England. It will be difficult breaking it today.