Easy victory for England

England coasted to a six-wicket victory over the mis-firing West Indies at Bristol on Sunday, to take an unassailable 1-0 NatWest Series lead.

Stuart Broad (four for 46) and occasional seamer Paul Collingwood (three for 16) did Andrew Strauss proud, after he had chosen to bowl first upon detecting a tinge of green in a pacy pitch.

The England captain's judgment proved sound, which was much more than could be said for any of the Windies batsmen - among whom only Dwayne Bravo ever looked set for the long haul required on a glorious day.

On a surface which had plenty of runs in it for anyone patient enough to wait before launching the big shots, the tourists were all out for 160 in double-quick time.

England found themselves batting before the lunch break and soon lost Strauss caught via a mistimed flick to leg off the pace of Jerome Taylor.

New number three Matt Prior glided a cut at Darren Sammy much too fine to slip, where Chris Gayle juggled but held the catch - and Ravi Bopara missed a clip to leg off Bravo to go lbw with a half-century in his sights.

But Owais Shah and Collingwood then made no mistake in a stand of 76 which helped to put the tourists out of their misery, with an embarrassing 14 overs unnecessary.

West Indies' batsmen had earlier threatened occasionally to recover from a horrendous start - seven for two - but never actually did so. Gayle's response to losing his opening partner Lendl Simmons and then Ramnaresh Sarwan for ducks to Broad was predictable counter-attack.

Simmons went lbw on the back foot, and Sarwan caught behind driving at a length ball. Far from choosing to dig in alongside Shivnarine Chanderpaul, though, Gayle launched a flurry of boundaries. He then hit Graeme Swann's first ball for a huge six over long-on, only to be bowled by the off-spinner's next delivery when he got into a tangle aiming for another maximum.

The remainder of the batsmen got themselves out, and there were some comedy moments along the way - not least Taylor's self-inflicted run-out after he set off for a non-single and then slipped mid-pitch.