Cook ton puts England on top at Lord's

Alastair Cook has revealed that he felt very emotional to emerge from the "hell" of the Ashes by smashing his fifth Test century as England finished a rain-affected first day of the opening Test against the West Indies on 200-3.

The England opener, who kicked off England's new era under Peter Moores with an 88-run first-wicket partnership with stand-in skipper Andrew Strauss (33), leapt off his feet and punched the air when he completed his Test ton in 162 balls.

The 22-year-old explained his delight having suffered during England's first Ashes whitewash in 86 years in Australia over the winter: "I felt very emotional when I got the hundred. It has been a while, January 6, since I've been involved (with England), and that's probably why.

"What happened there (Australia) I wouldn't wish on anyone's worst enemy. Those feelings in certain games, it is still hard to bring it up - a lot of people went through hell on that tour.

"Now we're through that, and you have to look at it and learn from it - you can only look forward from something like that."

With the wickets of Owais Shah (6), who is deputising for the injured Andrew Flintoff, and Kevin Pietersen (26) both falling, Paul Collingwood and Cook helped cement England's impressive start to their summer campaign.

Cook has revealed how the fear he may be the one that makes way for the return of injured captain Michael Vaughan, who is expected to make his comeback in the next Test at Headingley, spurred him on to another major innings.

The Essex batsman added: "It's crucial that I started well this summer, particularly with Michael Vaughan coming back and other people hitting form. When you're in possession you want to hit as many runs as possible while you can.

"It's the first game of the summer for England and we banged on yesterday in our meetings about setting the tone and the way we want to play.

"The pitch was hard work so it was more of a grind but it was crucial with a new coach to impress him by scoring runs and hopefully keep your place."

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