Ian Bell survived an awkward introduction to Test match cricket

Contrasting half-centuries from three members of England's middle order ensured the home side had a good start in the fourth Test against West Indies.

Seeking a 7-0 clean sweep of the summer Tests, the home side ended the first day at The Oval on 313-5 with Andrew Flintoff still there on 72.

Ian Bell had enjoyed an excellent debut, hitting 70 in a vital stand of 146 after England had been 64-3.

Michael Vaughan, who had helped Bell turn things around, made 66.

But it was Flintoff who really spoiled the day for West Indies, passing 50 for the eighth successive Test - a run of consistent form bettered only by John Edrich and Alec Stewart for England.

Play began with an uncertain forecast and although England won the toss and elected to bat they had to wait until 22 minutes after the scheduled start before facing the first delivery.

Openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss enjoyed an untroubled start on a placid surface offering no sideways movement and less pace than was present in the Old Trafford.

FLINTOFF'S BATTING FORM v West Indies, St John's, April: 102 not out & 14 v New Zealand, Lord's, May: 63 v NZ, Headingley, June: 94 v NZ, T Bridge, June: 54 & 5 v WI, Lord's, July: 6 & 58 v WI, Edg'ton, July: 167 & 20 v WI, Old Trafford, August: 7 & 57 not out v WI, The Oval, Aug: 72 not out

Strauss, apparently obsessed by the pull shot to balls outside his off-stump, then threw away his wicket in a carbon-copy dismissal of his demise on Monday.

Ramnaresh Sarwan took a good catch at mid-wicket to take the top-edged offering off Jermaine Lawson.

At lunch, England would have been content enough but they were rocked from their complacency when two wickets fell in quick succession as they slumped to 64-3.

Having made 30, Trescothick flicked Fidel Edwards off his pads and straight to Sarwan at square leg before Robert Key nicked a square cut off Dwayne Bravo to the wicket-keeper.

And so Bell was at the crease rather sooner than he might have expected and before he had scored, he was clunked on the right shoulder by an Edwards bouncer.

Michael Vaughan's 66 was a vital contribution on Thursday

He got off the mark in awkward fashion too, edging the same bowler over second slip for four, but showed his talent with a square cut in front of point off Lawson and another played late off the spinner Gayle.

Both shots brought him boundaries and Vaughan was also profiting with shots in the same area, and off the front foot through the covers.

Just as Bell seemed poised to emulate Strauss's feats from earlier in the summer by hitting a century on debut, he edged a defensive prod at a quickish ball from Lawson taken by wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh.

Vaughan did not last much longer, driving at Bravo and edging to first slip, and at 236-5 the match was finely balanced once again.

Lawson unleashed a volley of short balls at Flintoff, but the tactic did not work and as well as some ferocious hook shots, England's talisman added a flurry of off-side boundaries into the bargain, going to his fifty in just 51 balls with 10 boundaries.

By contrast, Vaughan had needed 82 balls to reach the landmark, Bell 110.

From 64-3, England had really set themselves up - and for once they had done so without the injured Graham Thorpe.

England: MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), ME Trescothick (Somerset), AJ Strauss (Middlesex), RWT Key (Kent), IR Bell (Warwickshire), A Flintoff (Lancashire), GO Jones (Kent, wkt), AF Giles (Warwickshire), MJ Hoggard (Yorkshire), SJ Harmison (Durham), JM Anderson (Lancashire).