Graham Onions' golden debut got even better today when he picked up two more West Indies wickets — but England still have some work to do to wrap-up victory in the first Test after the West Indies fought back in the afternoon session at Lord's.

After taking five for 38 in the tourists' first innings, Onions claimed the scalps of Lendl Simmons and Devon Smith during a shortened morning session, although the Windies managed to at least make progress between lunch and tea, reaching the interval on 225 for six, putting them level with England.

Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin dug in during the afternoon to put the brakes on England's progress slightly, and their partnership of 143 — the highest of the match for their team — restored a degree of pride after four awful sessions for the tourists, though Ramdin's resistance was eventually broken when he was bowled by Stuart Broad for 61 just before tea.

After losing three wickets in successive overs before lunch, many at Lord's would have expected West Indies to capitulate quickly in the afternoon session. Yet Nash and wicket-keeper Ramdin showed the resolve most of their team-mates had lacked to at least make England bat again.

However, both players had lucky escapes, Nash was dropped in the slips by Graeme Swann off Anderson before he had troubled the scorer, while Onions put down a chance off his own bowling with Ramdin on 46.

After bowling only one over yesterday, debutant Tim Bresnan was given his opportunity to make his mark with the ball as captain Andrew Strauss put him on at the Nursery End, but the Yorkshireman failed to mark a probing second spell with a wicket.

With the start of play delayed by an hour due to rain, West Indies — who were forced to follow on after being bowled out for 152 yesterday — resumed on 39 for two.

After Simmons and Smith had survived 10 overs, it was Onions who made the breakthrough, when Simmons turned the ball to Alastair Cook at short square-leg and departed for 21.

In the next over, Swann produced a beautifully-flighted delivery which the world's number one batsman,Shivnarine Chanderpaul, inside-edged on to his pad, and first-innings centurion Ravi Bopara expertly snaffled the chance at silly point. It was the second time in the match that Swann had prised out Chanderpaul, and the wicket enhanced the off-spinner's growing reputation after he made a crucial unbeaten 63 in England's first-innings total of 377.

Onions then made it three wickets in the space of 12 balls for Strauss's men when he sent Smith's middle stump spinning out of the ground with a vicious inswinger — his seventh success of the match, at the cost of just 43 runs.

It may seem strange to suggest this during such an astonishing bowling debut, but this match has only increased the feeling that Andrew Flintoff simply must be fit for the Ashes later this summer if England are to have any chance of beating Australia.

In recent weeks, the theory that this England team are better off without Flintoff has gathered pace. It is fuelled by his questionable fitness — Flintoff is sidelined with a knee injury picked up playing in the Indian Premier League — as well as his recent lack of runs and wickets at Test level.

Yet what Flintoff lacks in the wickets column, he more than makes up for with the pressure he piles upon batsmen with his fast, hostile, economical bowling. His relentless accuracy means a batsman is far more likely to relax when facing the other bowlers — and make a mistake as a result.

Before the West Indies collapsed from 99 for two by losing eight wickets for 53 runs yesterday afternoon, England's senior pacemen, Stuart Broad and Anderson, had failed to control their bowling sufficiently.

Although he picked up the key first-innings wickets of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, Broad was far too loose and inconsistent, with his opening seven-over spell costing 38 runs.

Moreover, Gayle and Sarwan got themselves out with daft shots when under no pressure, something which is unlikely to happen often against Australia.

Anderson was excellent during the winter on the lifeless pitches of the Caribbean, but has not found a way to cut out his mediocre spells.
His seven first-innings overs yesterday cost 32 runs, and Gayle, Smith and Sarwan never looked in trouble against him.