Collingwood wins it for England
Paul Collingwood celebrated his 50th NatWest Series appearance by helping England crush West Indies at Bristol.
England all-rounder Collingwood became the first man to reach a half-century in 10 summers of such series and marked his occasion with three wickets and an unbeaten 47 in a six-wicket win.Just as in the recent Test series, West Indies' ineptitude with the bat dictated the result, their profligacy meaning that 11.3 overs were left unused in being dismissed for just 160.
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Stuart Broad weighed in with four for 46, book-ending the innings with two wickets at the start and two more at the death, after England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss.
Such was the speed of the tourists' capitulation, in fact, that England had wiped off 35 of the target for the loss of Strauss before the scheduled 2.15pm interval.
Victory was concluded at 4.45pm when Eoin Morgan, making his England debut, guided the ball into the leg-side for a single off spinner Sulieman Benn.
It extended the winning habit under new coach Andy Flower and kept the hosts on course for a second limited-overs success against West Indies this year.
Both the mood of England's team and momentum under captain Strauss have altered since they lost the Test series in the Caribbean in March and that was emphasised by the fact that two surprise bowling changes delivered immediate breakthroughs.
Off-spinner Graeme Swann halted Chris Gayle's brief counter-attack with just his second ball and man of the match Collingwood removed Dwayne Bravo for 50 upon his introduction.
Collingwood finished with figures of 6-0-16-3, reward for hitting the seam with regularity on a green-tinged pitch.
Bravo was undone by a full delivery which nipped back through a push down the ground and Denesh Ramdin was similarly foxed by Collingwood's length - trapped leg before playing off the back foot.
Then, after Jerome Taylor perished to a comical run-out attempting to steal a single to short mid-off, Collingwood hit the top of middle stump to dismiss Kieron Pollard with the first ball back after a drinks break.
Broad's return from the Ashley Down end wrapped up the innings as the giant Benn and Ravi Rampaul displayed a lack of ability against the short ball.
He began the challenge of making good Strauss' decision to bowl by dismissing both Lendl Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan for ducks during his new-ball spell.
Simmons was beaten for pace, lbw on the back foot, and Sarwan's stay was even more shortlived as he drove tentatively at a length ball and edged behind.
Gayle's response was to crack four boundaries in six deliveries - including a towering six over long-on off Broad.
His approach was appreciated by a near sell-out crowd who were treated to glorious weather, in sharp contrast to Thursday's scheduled series opener at Headingley, which was washed out without a ball being bowled.
The onslaught appeared to be gathering significant pace too when Gayle deposited the first ball from first-change Swann into a similar part of the stands.
But having greeted Swann's introduction with that audacious stroke, another of attacking intent resulted in the ball crashing into the stumps off Gayle's pads next ball.
That left the West Indians three wickets down inside nine overs but the early impetus was developed by Bravo, whose half-century occupied only 55 deliveries, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
West Indies were beginning to advance their position, in fact, when Chanderpaul top-edged a pull off Tim Bresnan to conclude a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Bravo's departure, however, sparked a terminal collapse of six wickets for 32 runs.
In reply, Ravi Bopara followed up his consecutive Test hundreds so far this summer with another attractive contribution of 43, including five boundaries.
Elegant Bopara
His attractive display, aided by West Indian shoddiness in the field, made light of the loss of Strauss and new number three Matt Prior cheaply.
The victory was given some gloss, however, by Collingwood's effort which hurried England home with 14 overs to spare.
Twice in one Bravo over, he hammered the ball down the ground: a four followed by a straight six, and he dominated a fourth-wicket alliance with Owais Shah, to which he contributed 34 of the first 50.
Their partnership was worth 76 in 14 overs when Shah was dismissed by Pollard's direct hit from point after dawdling in the middle of the pitch following a misfield.
That gave Middlesex left-hander Morgan, who last faced the West Indians in the colours of Ireland during the 2007 World Cup but switched allegiance at the start of this summer, the chance to mark his first England appearance with the winning run.
Collingwood dived to make his ground after Morgan shuffled the ball to square-leg but arose in the knowledge that England have asserted their dominance over the tourists in both forms of the game so far this summer.
England will now expect to seal a second successive 2-0 series success at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
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