Broad brushes Windies aside

1 July 2007

Stuart Broad celebrates the wicket of Dwayne Bravo for 29

England struck first blood in the three-match NatWest Series with West Indies as they triumphed by 79 runs at Lord’s.

Paul Collingwood’s side amassed a competitive 225 all out in their first 50-over contest since the World Cup in the Caribbean with an Ian Bell half-century and a five-wicket haul from man-of-the-match Fidel Edwards the main contributions.

But it proved more than enough to secure victory against West Indies who were largely undone by the effort of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and never recovered from being 13 for four.

Liam Plunkett made the first breakthrough when Windies skipper Chris Gayle (6) flicked a delivery straight into the hands of Broad at long leg.

Then Anderson struck twice in two balls and instigated a run-out to put England firmly in control.

First, he bowled Runako Morton for a duck with a delivery which cut back sharply and followed it up by having Marlon Samuels caught by wicket-keeper Matthew Prior off a glove, also without troubling the scorers.

Anderson’s throw from wide third man in the next over from Plunkett ran out Devon Smith for four after he had come back for an impossible-looking second run.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo were relatively untroubled in adding 65 in 13 overs.

But Broad put the Windies on the back foot again with two wickets in three deliveries, having Bravo (27) caught behind and bowling Denesh Ramdin for a duck with a ball which came back in. The Broad-Prior combination also accounted for Dwayne Smith (6).

Yet again Chanderpaul proved difficult to dislodge and he reached his 50 off 95 balls with his fifth boundary.

James Anderson bowls Runako Morton for a duck

But he was left high and dry on 53 not out after last man Edwards was run out with the total on 146.

Edwards had destroyed the England lower and middle order with four wickets in his final three overs to give him figures of five wickets for 45 runs from 10 overs.

There were only 12 boundaries in the innings in the face of some accurate bowling in helpful conditions after Gayle had put England in to bat.

England still looked to have laid a solid platform via useful contributions from Alastair Cook (29), Prior (34), Ian Bell (56) and Kevin Pietersen (33).

They were well placed at 177 for three when Bell was run out in the 42nd over for 56 - his 11th one-day international half-century - shortly before a lengthy break for rain.

When the players returned they found the pacy Edwards too hot to handle and the final six wickets tumbled for 39 runs.

Edwards bowled Collingwood and Dimitri Mascarenhas and had Plunkett and Broad caught behind.

It was left to Owais Shah to help England post a semi-respectable total with 42 off 38 balls before he was run out in the final over.