West Indies' miserable tour of England continued Tuesday when they were beaten by 58 runs in the third and final one-day international at Edgbaston. The defeat condemned the visitors to a 2-0 defeat in the series and having lost the preceding Test series by the same margin, Chris Gayle's side goes into next week's Twenty20 World Cup at one of its lowest ebbs. It was a convincing display by England, whose opponents seemed unable to choose between chasing a target of 329 or avoiding humiliation. England posted a daunting total of 328-7 after being put into bat by West Indies captain Chris Gayle. Matt Prior made 87 off 86 balls and captain Andrew Strauss made 52, as England posted its highest ever ODI score at Edgbaston. Jerome Taylor was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-59. Strauss and his fellow opener Ravi Bopara got England off to a solid start, putting on 81 for the first wicket until Bopara was bowled off his pads by Dwayne Bravo for 49. Strauss played with uncharacteristic flamboyance for his half-century, reverse-sweeping Sulieman Benn for four, before he was stumped by Denesh Ramdin off Benn for 52. Matt Prior and Owais Shah then made a century stand, scoring at a run a ball and giving England the platform to set a huge target. Shah struck 75 off just 65 balls, when he perished attempting to increase the scoring rate. Having smashed Taylor for six with the previous delivery, he tried to repeat the trick, but was caught in the deep by Runako Morton. Dimitri Mascarenhas was promoted up the order as England looked for quick runs, but the move backfired when he was out first ball, caught and bowled by Kieron Pollard. Prior was next to depart, clean bowled by Taylor, who then bowled Paul Collingwood, who had smashed 23 from 14 balls. Tim Bresnan was caught for nine by Ravi Rampaul off Pollard before Eoin Morgan and Stuart Broad steered England to 328 from 50 overs. West Indies has only twice scored 300 or more in ODI history and their reply got off to a sorry start. Gayle was out in the third over attempting to pull Broad, instead chipping the ball straight to Bopara. Five balls later, Ramnaresh Sarwan tried to drive James Anderson, but he was caught one-handed by Strauss. Morton was run out for 22, halfway down the wicket, looking for a second run when he was sent back by Shivnarine Chanderpaul - television replays showed he was inches short of his ground. Dwayne Bravo swatted two sixes off Mascarenhas, but he was trapped lbw by Bresnan and Chanderpaul played a mystifying innings, taking 108 balls to reach 68. West Indies delayed taking a batting powerplay until the 38th over and by the time Chanderpaul was caught, four balls later, by Bopara off Broad, the run rate was up to 12 an over. Prior made a flying leap to catch Ramdin (45) as he attempted to cut Anderson and both Pollard and Taylor were run out. Rampaul was clean bowled by Graeme Swann and West Indies' ordeal was ended when Anderson bowled Benn in the final over.
*AP