Andrew Strauss insisted he was the right man for the job when England made him captain a month ago. And no one, not even Kevin Pietersen or Andrew Flintoff, could have led them more dynamically on the opening day of the Third Test.

Finally handed a role he always wanted following that damaging row between Pietersen and Peter Moores, Strauss had to stay strong after the nightmare of Jamaica, where his team were routed for 51, and rally the troops again once last Friday's farce resulted in the Second Test being abandoned inside an hour.

But the strength of character which always looked as though it would serve England well was there for all to see at Antigua's hastily spruced up Recreation Ground yesterday, with a wonderful innings of 169 allowing thousands of travelling fans to forget about that shambles at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium.

England not only found a way back into this now five-Test series by reaching 301 for three. They also saw a batsman reborn. While the Strauss of the last 12 months has been effective, scoring centuries at Christchurch, Old Trafford and then two in Chennai, all four have been laborious. Yesterday, however, he was much more like the man who burst onto the international scene with a sparkling hundred at Lord's in 2004.

The pressure of leadership stifles some people. On the evidence of this innings, spanning 278 balls and including a glorious straight driven six against spinner Sulieman Benn as well as 24 fours, captaincy has freed Strauss of the uncertainty which shackled his game of late.

Using his feet again, instead of playing everything square of the wicket from an almost static position, the left-hander drove West Indies to distraction.

Skipper Chris Gayle seemed to lose interest once the pitch failed to justify his decision to insert the opposition and his opposite number took advantage.

Strauss said: "We've had a couple of hard weeks. Having been bowled out for 51 in the First Test, we wanted to come out, play positively and prove to everyone that as a batting unit we have some good players who can score big runs.

"As captain it was important to lead from the front. There are two ways to react to Jamaica. One is to go into your shell and hope you might get runs, and the other is to take the bull by the horns and say, 'I am going to get runs'.

"That was the kind of mind-set I was in. And as a team we were positive but in a controlled kind of way, which was the right way to be."

Alastair Cook was caught at slip just after passing 50 and Owais Shah spoiled his long-awaited comeback innings by running himself out for 57.