After a three-week hiatus, cricket is back on the international circuit as English summer gets underway with the first test match between England and West Indies from Thursday. The match will be played at the home of cricket, Lord's.

England, the No. 1 ranked test side in the world, will be hoping to make an early impression in the three-match series. Their recent record has not been impressive with five defeats in the last six matches, but those defeats came in spin-friendly conditions against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Back at home, England will be keen on maintaining their dominance after a strong show against India last year. Andrew Strauss will be expecting plenty from Kevin Pietersen who has been in good form while Ian Bell makes a return to the team after paying the price for a lean run. Matt Prior, who scored a century on debut the last time West Indies played at Lord's, will know his place would be under scrutiny given that Jamie Bairstow is also a part of the squad.

For the West Indies, while their efforts in the past six months or so have been impressive, they will know that they now need to translate them into results. A session or two can potentially damage their chances as was often seen in the series against Australia.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be the backbone of their batting yet again. Darren Sammy is confident that his players can do well despite losing to England Lions by ten wickets. Adrian Barath scored a century in the second innings and will be their trump card should they look to survive early on in testing conditions.

Coach Ottis Gibson, who has formerly worked with England as well, has hinted at playing a four-pronged pace attack to exploit the early summer seaming conditions.

The match will start at 10.00am local time.

Tag :- Adrian Barath   Andrew Strauss   Darren Sammy   England   Ian Bell   West Indies