Tweet
Dwayne Smith made an immediate impact for West Indies in their warm-up match against Middlesex at Lord's ahead of the ODI series © Getty Images
Darren Bravo returned to form with an unbeaten hundred against Middlesex and Dwayne Smith made 96 to show that Chris Gayle is not the only big-hitting batsman back in the West Indies side for the one-day series as the visitors piled up 335 for 4 at Lord's.
The backbone of West Indies' imposing total was a 156-run stand for the third wicket between Bravo and Smith, while the end of the innings was given a kick by Dwayne Bravo - another player back in the squad after IPL duty - who sped to 40 off 21 balls in a fifth-wicket partnership of 73 in six overs. England were always favourites to take the Test series, but West Indies have a formidable one-day batting order and could start the series as favourites.
Darren Bravo's innings was timely after a Test series where he disappointed with 81 runs in five innings. He was not challenged by a weakened Middlesex attack, but neither did he let the opportunity go to waste to revive his confidence. The hundred - just his third in List A cricket - came from 110 deliveries in the final over of the innings and he closed out the 50 overs by striking the final two balls for six against Josh Davey.
Smith - well known to English audiences after his spells in county cricket - came within one blow of three figures after an innings that hinted at a greater maturity in his batting than had previously been evident. Given the chance to bat at No. 4 with Marlon Samuels resting, he played himself in but still did not struggle to score at a run-a-ball, a rate he later increased before driving to mid-on searching for the boundary to reach a hundred. One of his two sixes went into the top tier of the pavilion.
Gayle's return to the maroon strip began at a good clip. In the second over he took consecutive boundaries off Robbie Williams and then launched Tim Murtagh for two sixes. With the Middlesex attack lacking Corey Collymore - a former team-mate of Gayle - and Toby Roland-Jones it was lightweight and Gayle looked set to take advantage. However, he did not quite middle his attempted flick over the leg side off Anthony Ireland and found deep midwicket on the shorter of the boundaries.
Lendl Simmons, who is set to open alongside Gayle during the one-day series, had played steadily and gave a greater air of permanency at the crease than Kieran Powell or Kirk Edwards managed in the Test matches until being beaten by a wider delivery from Paul Stirling. At that stage, in the 15th over, Middlesex had a modicum of control over the innings but it was the calm before the storm.