Matt Prior's one-day international best of 87 was the highlight of England's record total against the West Indies of 328 for seven at Edgbaston here on Tuesday. Together with Owais Shah, who made an entertaining 75, wicket-keeper Prior put on 149 in 126 balls for the third wicket as England surpassed their previous ODI best against the West Indies of 306 for five at The Oval in 1995.
It was further proof, after their six-wicket win at Bristol on Sunday, that England could function effectively without injured stars Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. England captain Andrew Strauss (52) and Ravi Bopara (49) gave the hosts a solid start after West Indies captain Chris Gayle won the toss and chose to field in a match the tourists had to win to end the series all square at 1-1.
But first change Fidel Edwards, in his first over of the series, almost took a wicket when Strauss on 16, cut to backward point where Kieron Pollard, diving forward, failed to hold the difficult, low chance. England's fifty came up in 62 balls and Bopara continued to find the boundary with some superb square-cuts and drives in a spell of four fours in nine balls faced.
But Bopara was one short of his fifty when, after pushing forward with an angled bat against Dwayne Bravo, the ball struck his pad before rolling onto his stumps. Bopara's runs had come off 54 balls with seven fours and England were now 81 for one off 15 overs. England captain Strauss though did get to fifty, off 65 balls with seven fours, but his next ball saw him stumped by wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin off giant left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn.
Strauss's Middlesex colleague Shah forced the pace by hammering Edwards so hard for four through mid-wicket that Ramnaresh Sarwan had to go off injured, after getting a hand to the bal. Shah completed a run-a-ball fifty in flamboyant fashion with a wristily pulled six off Bravo, that also brought up a century partnership with Prior. England's batting powerplay yielded 55 runs in five overs.
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