Alastair Cook and Ian Bell's century partnership helped England inflict a five-wicket defeat over West Indies to go 1-0 up in the three-match series on day five at Lord's.

The loss of Jonathan Trott (13) and Kevin Pietersen (13) inside the opening hour left England 57 for 4 in pursuit of 191, but Cook and Bell put on an 132-run stand to swat away the hopes of the West Indies.

Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel both took early wickets, but the half centuries of Cook and Bell gives Andrew Strauss' men a lead in the three-match series ahead of the second test at Edgbaston.

Alastair Cook
Cook ensured England strolled to victory.

Resuming on 10-2 after the loss of first innings centurion Strauss and night-watchman James Anderson during the twilight of day four, it was left to Cook and Jonathan Trott to make inroads on a testing target of 191.

Trott's dogged approach appeared flappable as he edged Roach short of second slip for a boundary before the very next ball saw him find the clutches of skipper Darren Sammy.

Pietersen's natural game saw cracks appear also, with his swipe at Gabriel's delivering catching his bottom edge before sailing through to Denesh Ramdin.

England's man for a crisis, Cook, had stuttered to 13 from 40 balls upon Pietersen's departure, but quickly stepped on the gas, hitting fours in consecutive overs as his invincibility from 2011 returned.

It took Bell a similar amount of time to get into his stride, taking 40 balls to find his first boundary as England pilled on the runs prior to lunch.

With a run-rate of over four an over, at the break England required just 60 to take a lead in the series, a total they cruised to inside 15 overs, not before the dismissal of Cook for 79 as he edged Sammy to Kirk Edward at gully.

It was left to Bell, who finished on 63 not out to hit the winning runs alongside Jonny Bairstow, who failed to score as England eventually swept aside a West Indies side who will take heart from a determined display prior to the second and third tests in the coming weeks.

Captain Strauss was eager to praise the efforts of Cook and Bell, who led England's fightback on day five.

"We felt that the wicket was pretty flat and we had a good hance of getting the target today but you never know and we put ourselves in a tricky position last night," he said.

"I thought the wicket would flatten out and Alastair Cook and Ian Bell went about getting the runs in a sensible, civilised way. When you have to dig a bit deeper to get over the line it makes it that bit more satisfying. It was a good run out, we'll have to see how everyone is feeling before the next Test.

"It was nice to get that hundred and when you do it in a winning cause it makes it more special. Ian Bell has been playing brilliantly for a long time and it was just a case of him reconnecting with his method and he showed how good he is."

After a spirited showing, opposite number Sammy paid tribute to his team's battling qualities and hinted at changes for the second test.

"I think some guys performed really well. We look at the good things we did and in the next match hope to perform more consistently," he said. "You saw the way Kemar started off [this morning] but once the hardness went from the ball it was difficult against the England batsmen.

"We didn't get as many runs as we wanted in the first innings but the way we fought back we can take encouragement for the next match. I think this team have been working really hard and whoever comes in we are going to welcome them."