BRISTOL // Paul Collingwood hit an unbeaten 47 and took 3-16 as England beat the West Indies by six wickets in the second one-day international of the three-game series. Ravi Bopara also hit 43 and Owais Shah 38 as England reached 161 for four off 36 overs at Bristol's County Ground to easily pass the pitiful target set by the West Indies. England paceman Stuart Broad was the purge of the tourist's innings as he took 4-46 with Chris Gayle's team collapsing from 107 for four to 160 all out.
Dwayne Bravo provided the only real resistance with a 50, while the captain Gayle hit a swashbuckling 31 at the top of the scorecard. Shivnarine Chanderpaul's nurdling 27 and Darren Sammy's 13 were the only other scores of note as the rest of the Windies batsmen failed to reach double figures in what should have been a batsmen friendly strip. The England captain Andrew Strauss, did believe that the grassy surface could provide his bowlers with a little bit of nip however, so when he won the toss he did put West Indies in to bat. He was correct as Broad struck twice to dismiss Lendl Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan with both failing to score to leave their side at seven for two in the fourth over.
Simmons faced four balls before he was trapped lbw on the back foot. Sarwan then lasted two deliveries, edging to the wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Despite the loss of two of his leading batsmen, Gayle decided to attack the bowling before he was third out with the total on 44. Having just hit Graeme Swann for his second six, he was bowled by the off-spinner having faced 28 balls. Chanderpaul and Bravo compiled a fourth-wicket stand of 63 with Bravo launching a huge straight six off Dimitri Mascarenhas. But Chanderpaul failed to stick around when he tried to pull a delivery from Tim Bresnan. He top-edged to provide an easy catch for Strauss at slip.
Bravo, who did not play in the Test series, reached his 50 before he was out from Collingwood's first ball. The ball found the gap between bat and pad to strike the stumps with the score at 128 for five in the 28th over. Collingwood struck again in his next over when a ball to Denesh Ramdin kept low, trapping him lbw for eight. The seventh wicket fell three runs later after a run out. Jerome Taylor pushed a ball from Swann into the offside and set off for a run that was not there. Although he was sent back, he did not beat Strauss's throw.
Kieron Pollard added eight runs before he was bowled to become Collingwood's third victim, and Sulieman Benn top-edged a pull off Broad and gave a catch to Ravi Bopara at midwicket to depart for one run. Ravi Rampaul played a lovely cover drive for a tail-ender to reach on seven. However this did nothing but rile Broad who then peppered him with short deliveries. Rampaul was not up to the challenge and he gloved to Swann at slip.
England made a steady start in search of a modest total before Strauss, who had made four, tried to hook a ball from Taylor, top-edged and Sammy took the catch with 31 runs, mostly extras, on the board. Prior made 11 to push the score onto 61 for two before he edged a catch to third slip where Gayle juggled off Sammy's bowling. Ravi Bopara hit five boundaries in an entertaining knock of 43 before he was beaten by the swing bowling of Bravo who trapped him lbw.
Collingwood hit Bravo for a four and a six in the same over and then a lofted drive for four off Pollard. Shah was out trying to hit a boundary to finish the game but his powerfully hit cut was brilliantly stopped by Pollard, who then reacted quickly by hitting the stumps from 30 yards with Shah well out of his crease. Eoin Morgan, who faced the West Indies while playing for Ireland in the 2007 World Cup, came out for his England debut and scored the winning runs, ending unbeaten on two.
Thursday's game at Headingley was washed out. The two teams will meet again at Edgbaston on Tuesday for the final game of series. *With Agencies