CRICKET: The destructive power of West Indies' batting line-up sent hosts England crashing out of the NatWest Triangular Series at Lord's yesterday.

Despite compiling 285 for seven - the highest score of the tournament at that point - England slumped to a seven-wicket defeat as West Indies successfully chased the fourth highest target ever in a one-day international in England.

Man-of-the-match Chris Gayle was the thorn in England's side, hammering a brilliant 132 to seal the triumph with five balls to spare.

The Windies' limited bowling resources - Jermaine Lawson was ruled out with flu while Ravi Rampaul is suffering with shin splints - forced the tourists to select just two specialist bowlers for a match England had to win with a bonus point to guarantee their involvement in Saturday's final.

England appeared to have exploited the situation with Andrew Flintoff maintaining his blistering form to become the first English batsman since Alec Stewart four years ago to score centuries in successive matches.

The Lancashire all-rounder, who hit 123 from 104 balls, forged a record stand with Andrew Strauss, who claimed his maiden century at this level.

The pair put on 226 from 188 balls to record England's highest ever one-day partnership and overhaul the previous best of 213 by Graeme Hick and Neil Fairbrother against West Indies at Lord's 13 years earlier.

Their efforts helped England progress from a healthy but far from intimidating 164 for three after 40 overs.

The final 10 overs yielded 121 runs, and the last six 85, to leave England needing to restrict West Indies to 228 if they were to claim the six points on offer with a bonus point.

That prospect looked possible with opener Devon Smith falling in the seventh over of their reply when he edged Darren Gough behind.

But that was England's last success for a further 31 overs with Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan conducting a masterclass in how to judge the pace of innings.

Having been given an early reprieve on 19, Strauss failing to take a diving catch at extra cover, Gayle was given licence to demonstrate the power of his strokeplay to the capacity crowd while Sarwan scored at more than a run-a-ball. Their constant pressurising of the England fielders, pushing for runs all the time, inevitably caused errors.

Lancashire seamer James Anderson missed a tough return catch after Sarwan had reached 74, but made amends by finally breaking the 187-run partnership off 188 balls in his next over when the vice-captain edged behind attempting a big drive over the top.

Needing 73 off the final 10 overs, Anderson at least made the finale to the game interesting by removing Lara.

But West Indies' vast depth in their batting line-up paid off with Ricardo Powell arriving at the crease to contribute a quickfire 33 to an unbroken 68-run partnership with Gayle, who paced his innings to perfection and finished unbeaten on 132 off 165 deliveries.

ENGLAND INNINGS

M E Trescothick b Best 11

M P Vaughan c Jacobs b Best 8

R W T Key b D R Smith 19

A J Strauss c Bravo b Gayle 100

A Flintoff c Bradshaw b Gayle 123

P D Collingwood c D S Smith b Gayle 1

G O Jones run out 1

A F Giles not out 0

Extras lb6 w10 nb6 pens 0 22

Total 7 wkts (50 overs) ... 285

Fall: 1-14 2-27 3-54 4-280 5-284 6-284 7-285

Did Not Bat: D Gough, S J Harmison, J M Anderson.

Bowling: Bradshaw 10-2-29-0; Best 10-1-42-2; Bravo 10-2-80-0; D R Smith 10-0-71-1; Gayle 10-0-57-3.

WEST INDIES INNINGS

C H Gayle not out 132

D S Smith c G O Jones b Gough 10

R R Sarwan c G O Jones b Anderson 89

B C Lara c G O Jones b Anderson 10

R L Powell not out 33

Extras lb7 w5 pens 0 12

Total 3 wkts (49.1 overs) ... 286

Fall: 1-15 2-202 3-218

Did Not Bat: S Chanderpaul, D J J Bravo, D R Smith, R D Jacobs, I D R Bradshaw, T L Best.

Bowling: Gough 10-2-48-1; Harmison 10-0-51-0; Anderson 9.1-0-69-2; Giles 10-1-43-0; Vaughan 1-0-10-0; Collingwood 9-0-58-0.

West Indies beat England by 7 wkts.