England make winning start against West Indies

LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) England made a winning start to their one-day series against West Indies with a comfortable 79-run victory at Lord's.

England had been limited to 225 all out by paceman Fidel Edwards, who exploited the pitch after an hour's rain interruption to wreak havoc with their middle and late order, yesterday .

Paul Collingwood was among his five victims, lasting only seven balls and managing just five runs in his first 50-overs game since becoming England's one-day captain.

But his new post-World Cup era opened with a victory after a calamitous start by West Indies, whose captain Chris Gayle was their first casualty in a spell that left them on 13-4.

They finished on 146 all out in their 40th over.

''I asked the bowlers to be aggressive and get the ball into good Lord's areas -- and they certainly did that,'' Collingwood told reporters.

''They took the same intensity we had in the Twenty/20 matches and we were fielding like a pack of hounds. It really does feel good in the middle when everybody is together.'' Put into bat, England began their innings with openers Alastair Cook (29) and Matt Prior (34) laying a foundation, while Ian Bell, back from a groin injury, injected more bite before being run out after some sharp fielding by Gayle on 56.

A turning point came with the rain in the closing overs, with England on 181 for four.

Collingwood went soon after the re-start and Dimitri Mascarenhas, Liam Plunkett and Stuart Broad followed as Edwards finished with 5-45 from his 10 overs.

West Indies looked ready to pounce. Instead, Gayle was caught by Broad for six in their fourth over.

It became a debacle in the fifth when James Anderson splayed the stumps of Runako Morton and with his next delivery had Marlon Samuels caught by wicket keeper Matt Prior.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul denied Anderson a hat-trick but his partner Devon Smith was run out in the following over.

Dwayne Bravo steadied the ship with a series of fours, taking the score to 74 before a promising partnership ended in another two-wicket over.

Broad did the damage, getting Bravo caught by Prior for 29 and rattling Denesh Ramdin's off-stump two deliveries later to have West Indies mired on 74-6.

Gayle said: ''We still have two games to go... and sometimes, when our backs are up against the wall, we play better cricket.'' The series continues on Wednesday at Edgbaston.

REUTERS BJR RN1322