LONDON, CMC - Another controversial dismissal of Brian Lara threatened to completely ruin a worthy West Indies fightback on the second day of the First Test against England at Lord's on Friday. But having slipped to 139 for four with the captain's departure in reply to the hosts' formidable first innings total of 568, the resilient Shivnarine Chanderpaul found an able partner in debutant Dwayne Bravo, and their unbroken 69-run partnership saw the tourists to 208 for four at the end of a sun-blessed day in front of another near full-house. Heartened by the efforts of his bowlers in claiming England's last eight wickets for 83 runs in the first half of the day, Lara was almost disconsolate at being given out caught by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones for 11 off left-arm spinner Ashley Giles. The left-hander stood his ground in disbelief at the verdict by Australian umpire Daryll Harper, which was confirmed by television replays to be erroneous. Yet even as he sat in the players' balcony with his pads on for the rest of the evening, the captain was encouraged by the determination of the fifth-wicket pair when yet another embarrassing capitulation seemed inevitable. It was not the only decision at which the West Indies felt hard done by as there seemed more than just an element of doubt in Harper's LBW verdict that removed opening batsman Chris Gayle for 66, also off Giles. The spinner, who claimed just two wickets in the series in the Caribbean earlier this year and proved generally ineffective there, posed the greatest threat in exploiting worn patches at the southern end of the Lord's pitch to end the day with three for 58 off 20 overs. He made the breakthrough for England after Gayle and Devon Smith hammered Steve Harmison out of the attack, bowling Smith for 45 with a delivery that turned sharply and kept low to hit the little left-hander's off-stump and end a stand of 118, the best-ever opening partnership for the West Indies in a Test match at Lord's. Harmison, with 44 wickets in his last seven Test matches, looked a shadow of himself in conceding 42 runs off nine wicketless overs. The giant pacer was actually pulled off after just three overs by his captain, Michael Vaughan, as 24 runs were taken off him. Matthew Hoggard claimed the other wicket for England, once again exposing Ramnaresh Sarwan's technique when he trapped the West Indies vice-captain palpably leg-before for just one, a dismissal that saw the visitors slip from 118 without loss to 127 for three. Lara's contentious demise appeared to have shifted the balance totally England's way, but Bravo, who stroked his first delivery off Giles to the midwicket boundary, displayed assurance beyond his 20 years in reaching an unbeaten 30. At the other end, Chanderpaul was as determined as ever in compiling 41 not out. Fresh from a century against Sri Lanka "A" last Monday, he fought through uncertain periods and is likely to be the key man in the West Indies quest to at least get beyond the follow-on target of 369. That follow-on figure looked as if it would have been closer to 500 at the start of the day as Robert Key became the first England batsman to score a Test double-century against the West Indies since opener Dennis Amiss achieved the feat at The Oval in 1976. A boundary off Pedro Collins, his 29th, took him to the landmark and with the runs also flowing off Vaughan's bat in another big partnership, the only consideration at the time seemed when the home team would choose to declare. The partnership had reached 165 for the third wicket when Bravo finally made the breakthrough, claiming his first Test wicket as Key slashed at a wide delivery and Lara held the sharp chance well at backward-point to make the score 485 for three. His innings of 221, his highest first-class score and also the fifth highest Test innings at Lord's, spanned 426 minutes off 288 balls and was decorated with 31 fours. At the other end, Vaughan was moving inexorably towards his second hundred in as many Tests against the West Indies, but the unexpected slide of the rest of the batting caused him some anxiety. Bravo picked up his second wicket when Graham Thorpe edged a forcing off-side shot to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs while on the stroke of the lunch interval, the big-hitting Andrew Flintoff was bowled off the inside-edge by Omari Banks, having gotten off the mark with a straight hit for six in the same over. Pedro Collins then took over after the break, finding the ideal line to all the batsmen in swiftly removing Geraint Jones to a catch by Jacobs and Giles to a good take by Smith at second slip. Vaughan eventually reached his 12th Test century in 221 minutes off 148 balls with 12 fours but another perfectly pitched delivery by the left-arm seamer gave Smith his second catch in a few minutes, this time at first slip. Collins then had Simon Jones LBW to finish with four for 113 while Bravo had the satisfaction of ending the innings, uprooting Harmison's middle stump to end with figures of three for 74 off 24.4 overs. A measure of the England decline is reflected in the startling statistic that only the top five in the order managed to reach double-figures, although three of them - Key, Andrew Strauss and Vaughan - turned their useful beginnings into three-figure scores. The West Indies must now hope, even for all of their efforts on the second day, that Chanderpaul and Bravo can continue their battling partnership well into the morning session on Saturday if the tourists are to avoid the follow-on and a near-hopeless fight to avoid going 1-0 down at the start of the four-Test series. SCOREBOARD England first innings (overnight 391-2) M.Trescothick c Sarwan b Best 16 A.Strauss c wkp Jacobs b Banks 137 R.Key c Lara b Bravo 221 *M.Vaughan c Smith b Collins 103 G.Thorpe c wkp Jacobs b Bravo 19 A.Flintoff b Banks 6 +G.Jones c wkp Jacobs b Collins 4 A.Giles c Smith b Collins 5 M.Hoggard not out 1 S.Jones lbw b Collins 4 S.Harmison b Bravo 4 Extras (b2, lb20, w13, nb13) 48 TOTAL (all out, 121.4 overs) 568 Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-320, 3-485, 4-527, 5-534, 6-541, 7-551, 8-557, 9-563. Bowling: Collins 24-2-113-4 (6nb, 1w); Best 21-1-104-1 (1w); Edwards 21-2-96-0 (6nb, 3w); Bravo 24.4-5-74-3 (4w); Banks 22-3-131-2 (1nb); Sarwan 9-0-28-0 West Indies first innings C.Gayle lbw b Giles 66 D.Smith b Giles 45 R.Sarwan lbw b Hoggard 1 *B.Lara c G.Jones b Giles 11 S.Chanderpaul not out 41 D.Bravo not out 30 Extras (b4, lb8, nb2) 14 TOTAL (for 4 wickets, 51 overs) 208 Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-119, 3-127, 4-139 To bat: +R.Jacobs, O.Banks, P.Collins, T.Best, F.Edwards. Bowling (to date): Hoggard 51-2-57-1; Harmison 9-2-42-0; S.Jones 7-1-39-0 (2nb); Giles 20-3-58-3. Umpires: R.Koertzen, D.Harper SOURCE: WINDIESCRICKET.COM