England captain Alastair Cook has eased some of the pressure on himself by posting a century during the ongoing warm-up encounter against a St Kitts Invitational XI in the Caribbean this afternoon.

The skipper returned to the crease alongside Gary Ballance unbeaten on 95, and he got off the mark early on when he sent an outside edge down to the third-man boundary.

His ton, which he reached off 198 deliveries, then came courtesy of a flicked shot off the hip for two.

It is the first time that the 30-year-old has reached three figures for his country since November 2013 against Australia A in Hobart.

Shortly afterwards, Cook retired on 101 runs to give others in the batting order some time in the middle.

Yesterday, the returning Jonathan Trott scored 72, while Ben Stokes took three wickets.