Ashley Giles was on course to end Lord's reputation as a spinner's graveyard as he halted West Indies' hopes of a revival in the opening npower Test.

Not since Phil Tufnell claimed five for 91 against Sri Lanka at the home of cricket 13 years ago has an England spinner prospered and claimed a five-wicket Test haul at Lord's, prompting several notable critics, including Ian Botham, to suggest the selectors made a mistake by failing to pick an all-seam attack for this Test.

But Giles more than justified his inclusion yesterday with a three-wicket haul, including the key scalps of dangerous opener Chris Gayle and captain Brian Lara, to restrict the tourists to 208 for four by the close of the second day, still trailing by 360 runs.

Resuming on a towering 391 for two with Robert Key and captain Michael Vaughan well set and West Indies' raw attack feeling the strain of a long opening day in the field, England had realistic hopes of surpassing 700 for only the third time in their long Test history.

That seemed a realistic possibility with the overnight pair adding 79 in the first hour's play without giving a chance and enabling Kent batsman Key, resuming on 167, to progress comfortably and become the first England batsman to score a double century against West Indies since Dennis Amiss hit 203 at The Oval in 1976.

But the loss of Key for a brilliant 221, flashing a tired-looking shot off Dwayne Bravo straight to Lara at point, began a sudden collapse and prevented England reaching a total which would have completely demoralised the tourists.

Graham Thorpe followed eight overs later, edging Bravo behind and on the stroke of lunch all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was bowled by off-spinner Omari Banks trying for a second successive six.

Captain Vaughan claimed his 12th Test century before becoming one of four victims for only 11 runs in 21 balls for left-arm seamer Pedro Collins as England's lower order collapsed and they lost seven wickets for 41 runs in 68 deliveries.

The tourists' began their reply with opener Gayle punishing wayward new ball spells from Matthew Hoggard and particularly Durham's Steve Harmison, who was removed from the attack after only three overs having conceded 24 runs, including 17 from one over, while Simon Jones was treated similarly harshly and went for 24 runs in his first four overs to prompt the introduction of Giles' spin in only the ninth over.

It took him time to find his rhythm and Gayle and Devon Smith added 118 in only 23 overs.

But Smith then misjudged Giles' quicker ball and was bowled attempting to cut for 44.

Giles then halted Gayle's onslaught after he had hammered 66 off 82 balls, umpire Daryl Harper upholding a leg-before appeal though the delivery appeared to be missing the stumps.

Hoggard had Ramnaresh Sarwan leg-before three overs later for one but Harper was once again the central figure for the key wicket of the West Indies innings.

Five overs after Sarwan's dismissal, Lara pushed forward to Giles. He was careful to hide his bat behind his pad but Harper upheld a muted appeal for a catch behind.

Lara was so stunned by the decision he sat for half an hour afterwards on the dressing room balcony still dressed in his pads but at least was consoled by an encouraging 69-run stand between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo which prevented England making further inroads