England have won their final game of the group stages in the Cricket World Cup, despite making a distinctly shaky start, making for a breathtaking match against the West Indies.England needed a good result today if they were to have any hope of making it to the group stages, but despite winning the game the team is still dependent on the results of other games yet to be played.
The West Indies lost the toss and England captain Andrew Strauss elected to bat, together with fellow opener Matt Prior.
It was Prior who first got off the mark with a good clean drive through cover for four.
Strauss was not averse to scoring runs either and the pair forged the beginnings of a healthy partnership, scoring 48 runs together before Prior was bulled out by Andre Russell for 21.
Jonathan Trott came on for England and immediately made his presence felt with three fours in the same over that saw Prior walking back to the pavilion.
Strauss was not averse to scoring runs either and the pair forged the beginnings of a healthy partnership, scoring 48 runs together before Prior was bulled out by Andre Russell for 21.
Jonathan Trott came on for England and immediately made his presence felt with three fours in the same over that saw Prior walking back to the pavilion.
Trott continued chalking up the runs however Strauss went and lost his wicket after he hit a short ball from Russell into the hands of Chris Gayle. He was gone for 30 and England were on 79/2 with 12 of the 50 overs played.
Strauss was replaced by Ian Bell who made a slow but steady start and narrowly avoided being caught out when he was dropped by Devon Thomas.
The West Indies's bowlers were soon to strike however, with Devendra Bishoo dismissing Trott for 47 after the South African born batsman knocked the ball to a waiting Gayle. England were down to 121/3.
Bell was dismissed soon after, following a dull but steady innings that gave England another 27 runs. He was bowled out by Kemar Roach.
Eoin Morgan, who replaced Trott, failed to perform, scoring only seven runs before he gloved a ball from Bishoo to Thomas. Ravi Bopara put in a similarly poor performance, being bowled out for four by Russell, taking England to 151/6.
Luke Wright and James Tredwell found themselves together at the crease with the pressure on to save their team from a disastrous innings. Tredwell proved to be rather ill-fated, being dismissed for nine thanks to a confusing run-out.
Wright did rather better and helped build England's total, adding 44 to the total before he hit a ball from Bishoo to Russell at deep midwicket, putting England at 216/8.
This left Graeme Swann at the crease with Tim Bresnan. Bresnan put in a few big hits, but he was soon abandoned by Swann who was bowled out by Russell after scoring a mere eight runs.
Bresnan was the last man standing with 20 runs when England's final batsman, Chris Tremlett gloved a ball from Roach to Thomas after scoring only three runs.
England's final innings total was 243 all out after 48.4 of the 50 overs. The score seemed dangerously low and a superb performance from England's bowlers was needed in order to preserve the team's chances of going through to the next stage of the tournament.
Devon Smith opened up for West Indies together with Gayle, who started imposing himself on England's bowlers, scoring 18 in just one over against Bresnan, before repeating the feat against Tremlett.
Just as the prospect of a depressing massacre of England's bowlers seemed to be looming Tredwell removed Gayle after a review of an appeal for leg before. Gayle was gone for 43 and the West Indies trailed by 186 runs with nine wickets and 43 overs to go.
Bopara struck again after dismissing Sammy, this time bowling out Thomas for a mere nine runs.
This left veteran Ramnaresh Sarwan at the crease with Kieron Pollard.
Pollard made a valuable contribution, hitting numerous boundaries, reaching 24 by the time he was bowled leg before by Swann.
With wickets falling what looked like an easy run chase for West Indies was turning into a real match in which England was seeing its hopes revive.
Sarwan was joined by Russell, who did his best to kill those hopes, adding 49 runs to the West Indies total, and taking his team together with Sarwan to 222/7 before being dismissed leg before by Tredwell. West Indies had three wickets and 48 balls to score the 22 more runs needed to win the match.
Swann had other ideas however and sent Sarwan and Roach back to the pavilion (the latter for a duck) in just three balls.
Bishoo and Sulieman Benn were the last batsmen standing for the West Indies and to win needed 20 runs from 36 balls, leaving the game dangerously in the balance.
Benn lost his nerve however and edged away a ball from Bopara and unwisely went for a single, only to be run out by Trott.
His error gave England an 18 run victory in a must win game. England may still find itself coming home before the knock out stages however, as its fate now depends on the results of the remaining games in its group.
