New number three Ravi Bopara's second successive Test hundred was the centrepiece of England's 289 for seven on the first day of their series opener with the West Indies at Lord's here on Wednesday, AFP reported.Bopara was a Test-best 118 not out at stumps in his first Test since making 104 against the West Indies in Barbados in February and only fifth in all.The 24-year-old Essex all-rounder, dropped on 76 and 100, had faced 246 balls with 14 fours in an innings so far lasting nearly six hours.Bopara prevented a complete collapse against Fidel Edwards, who took four wickets for 53 runs in 19 overs including the prize scalp of Kevin Pietersen for nought.Bopara said he had not been nervous atall as he approached the century mark.‘I felt really relaxed, but I wanted to reach it off a single and not a boundary so I could run down the other end and really breathe it in,’ said Bopara, whose century will have satisfied the selectors they made the right choice in picking him and not Ian Bell or former captain Michael Vaughan.‘It was a good day, though, to be honest I wasn't thinking too much about it this morning or in the days leading up to it. I was just hanging out with my friends.’Fast bowler Edwards might have had a few more had not Bopara been missed off a simple chance and Stuart Broad, dropped twice off the Bajan's bowling, given four reprieves as the West Indies put down a potentially costly six catches after the tea interval.
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