England seize the initiative

Cricket: On a day when Irishman Eoin Morgan was handed his England debut, Paul Collingwood celebrated his 50th NatWest Series…

Cricket:On a day when Irishman Eoin Morgan was handed his England debut, Paul Collingwood celebrated his 50th NatWest Series appearance by helping to dismantle the West Indies batting order at Bristol.

England all-rounder Collingwood is the first man to reach a half-century in 10 summers of such series and marked the occasion with three wickets as the tourists crashed to 160 all out.

Stuart Broad weighed in with four for 46, claiming the first two and final two wickets to fall, as Chris Gayle's team were dismissed inside 39 overs after being put in to bat.

Collingwood finished with figures of 6-0-16-3, his trio of successes beginning with the scalp of Dwayne Bravo, whose half-century was a rare show of defiance.

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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, Collingwood hit the top of middle stump to dismiss Kieron Pollard with the first ball back after drinks.

Broad's return from the Ashley Down end wrapped up the innings as Sulieman Benn and Ravi Rampaul displayed a lack of ability against the short ball.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle had attempted to blast his side back into form after the NatWest Series belatedly got under way.

Left-hander Gayle responded to Broad's two early wickets by launching a ferocious counter-attack before succumbing to off-spinner Graeme Swann's second ball.

Having lofted the first for a huge six, his second of the innings, another attacking stroke resulted in the ball crashing into the stumps off Gayle's pads.

That left the West Indians - thrashed in the recent Test series - three wickets down inside nine overs but the impetus provided by Gayle was developed by Bravo, whose 50 occupied only 55 deliveries, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Encouraged by the green tinges in the surface, England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and offered his pacemen a chance to dismantle the tourists' top order.

Broad accepted the challenge with relish, 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 his dismissal, and that of Chanderpaul, who top-edged a pull off Tim Bresnan to conclude a 63-run stand with Bravo, represented a decent start to England's limited-overs action this summer.

It was built on thanks as much to West Indian naivety with the bat as much as their own potency with the ball and meant the chances of 22-year-old debutant Eoin Morgan getting a bat receded.

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, was expected to bat at number six with Matt Prior filling in for the injured Kevin Pietersen at number three.

Ian Bell and Ryan Sidebottom were the men left out by England as Strauss' side sought to build on their recent one-day success in the Caribbean.

West Indies, meanwhile, surprisingly left out pace bowler Fidel Edwards from their XI.

Morgan, 22, faced the West Indians in the colours of Ireland during the 2007 World Cup but switched allegiance at the start of this summer.

The Middlesex left-hander was expected to bat at number six with Matt Prior filling in for the injured Kevin Pietersen at number three.