England had their egos battered further on Friday, when West Indies captain Chris Gayle struck 80 from 43 balls to carry his side to an eight-wicket victory in their rain-affected third one-day international at the Kensington Oval.
England suffered another major batting failure and were dismissed for 117 in 41.3 overs after they were sent in to bat on a helpful pitch in a match reduced to 44 overs a side because of rain.
England’s bowlers were then demoralized, as Gayle blasted five fours and eight sixes to hasten the West Indies to victory with 176 balls to spare.
PHOTO: AP
The visitors now trail in the five-match series 1-2 with the fourth match to be staged at the same venue today.
Andrew Flintoff was the only England bowler that was spared punishment from Gayle before James Anderson bowled the West Indies captain.
Dimitri Mascarenhas suffered the most at the hands of Gayle, when 24 came from his only over, including a four and three sixes.
Earlier, Mascarenhas, batting at eight, led the way with the bat for the tourists with 36 from 76 balls after they had plunged to 55 for six in the 25th over.
Mascarenhas added a valuable 48 for the ninth wicket with Gareth Batty to limp England over the 100-run threshold, but the West Indies never eased their grip on the match.
Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with four for 19 from seven overs, Fidel Edwards took three for 28 from 8.3 overs and Kieron Pollard bagged two for 16 from six overs.
After the start was delayed by an hour-and-a-half, England lost Andrew Strauss to a fine catch by Gayle running back from slip off Fidel Edwards, who also had Ravi Bopara caught at mid-on in the space of three balls.
England were then rocked when they lost Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff in three successive overs.
Pietersen mistimed a pull to deep mid-wicket off Dwayne Bravo in the 14th over, Shah was caught low at backward point off Lionel Baker in the 15th over and Andrew Flintoff miscued a hook at a bouncer from Bravo and was caught at deep fine leg for a duck in the 16th over.
Paul Collingwood played across Bravo and was leg before wicket without scoring in the 19th over and the slump was complete when Matt Prior cut a wide, short, rising ball from Kieron Pollard and was caught at cover for 7. Stuart Broad was caught behind off the same bowler for a duck to leave England 68 for eight in the 25th over.
Mascarenhas and Batty batted for almost 15 overs to stem the fall of wickets before they were dismissed in successive overs in a wrap to the England innings.
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