England ease to Win over Windies

First one-day international, Lord's:
England 225 (49.5 ovs) bt West Indies 146 by 79 runs
England took the first one-day match of the series after dismissing West Indies for 146 to win by 79 runs at Lord's.

They struggled after being put in on an overcast morning, a fiery Fidel Edwards with 5-45, but Ian Bell made a gritty 56 and Owais Shah hit four fours in 42.

Defending a total of 225, England soon seized control as James Anderson struck twice in two balls and Stuart Broad also took two wickets in an over.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was not out with a typically adhesive 47th ODI fifty.
England's score appeared to be short of the mark after some attritional fare in which only 12 boundaries were scored.

But as the Windies suffered a disastrous start, it quickly became apparent that Paul Collingwood's team had done the right thing by grinding out an average score on what was clearly not the easiest wicket for scoring.

It was not all excellent bowling that proved the undoing of the Windies, skipper Chris Gayle recklessly flipping a routine delivery from Liam Plunkett off his pads straight into fine-leg's hands in the fourth over.

But Anderson produced a fine delivery that cut back through the defences of Runako Morton, and ousted another dangerman next ball when Marlon Samuels tried to leave one that brushed his glove.

Three balls later, Anderson's quick throw from third man was neatly collected by Matt Prior, who deftly whipped off the bails to make it 13-4.

Dwayne Bravo hit some bold strokes in stand of 61 with Chanderpaul before feathering Broad, who knocked back Denesh Ramdin's off-stump in the same over with one that kept a shade low.
Chanderpaul proved as hard to dislodge as ever but, given the number of wickets that had fallen, provided little threat of taking the game away.

England might have wrapped things up earlier, Ravi Rampaul dropped by Prior off Monty Panesar early in his innings and going to make 24, with last man

For all the talk of a new one-day approach, England's powerplay tactics with the bat seemed to have been afflicted with stark similarities to the obstinate negativity at the World Cup.

It seemed as though Gayle had won a crucial toss when he sent England in on an extremely overcast morning.

The first 10 overs produced only 26 runs as opening bowlers Daren Powell and Ravi Rampaul consistently beat the outside edge.

Alastair Cook, still trying to prove himself in the shorter form of the game, succumbed to the third ball from first-change Edwards, beaten by the extra pace and top-edging to backward square.

Although Prior was put at the top of the order to presumably give the innings some impetus, he adopted a subdued approach and hit only two boundaries.
Having compiled a purposeful - if unspectacular - 49 with Bell, Prior was knocked over, quite literally, by a quicker one from Dwayne Smith.

One who had no intentions of nudging for singles was Pietersen, bristling at the crease as ever, but he was fortunate on six when Smith's subtle variations induced an inside edge that whistled past both keeper and stumps.

But, like the spectators, he was strangely becalmed, his only boundary a leg-glance, and in exasperated fashion he sliced to point in the 37th over.

In the 40th over Bell raced back for a second to complete his 11th one-day fifty, prompting the first notable evidence that a sizeable crowd existed.

The gritty Warwickshire batsman had survived several near misses with his somewhat amateurish running between the wickets, even colliding with Shah at one stage.

He was again guilty of watching the ball having wandered halfway down the pitch when Gayle fielded Shah's backfoot drive and his alert throw saw Bell out by several yards, the eighth time he has been run-out in his 43 innings.

After a heavy downpour, England were left with 44 deliveries to accelerate from 181-4, but Paul Collingwood missed a full length delivery from the effervescent Edwards, who compounded the captain's misery by sending him on his way with his celebratory wave across the face.

Shah backed away and swiped a pull shot for the first boundary in 15 overs and added a wristy cut for four more.

But he was unable to get much more of the strike and Edwards added two more wickets in the 48th over.

However, even though the Windies were able to bat in sunshine throughout their innings, England had more than enough runs to end a run of six one-day defeats at the home of cricket dating back to 2003.