The pitfalls of thrusting a player into a Test match on the strength of performances in one-day internationals are too familiar to the England selectors for them not to have twinges of discomfort at the talk of Marcus Trescothick opening the batting in next month's third Test. But as the undisputed player of the triangular NatWest series so far, he has been making a case that will be hard for them to ignore when they choose their squad in 12 days' time.

His unbeaten 87 at Chester-le-Street on Saturday, scored out of 171 as England registered their first 10-wicket win in 314 limited-overs internationals, took his tally for the series to 244 at an average of 81, each run a switchblade in the heart of Mark Ramprakash and indeed Nick Knight, whose place in the oneday squad was taken by Trescothick after the Warwickshire left-hander broke a finger in the Lord's Test win two weeks ago. And, with Graham Thorpe making an impact again and Nasser Hussain's cracked thumb all but ready to be tested, even Graeme Hick is threatened.

Trescothick's success to date has been a feather in the cap of the England coach Duncan Fletcher who, after being appointed last July, spent the last months of his Glamorgan contract making note of those who impressed him against his county. In the case of Trescothick, who had captained England at under-19 level and went on last winter's A tour to Bangladesh and New Zealand without being overly successful, this came in the form of a muscular innings of 167 in a low-scoring game in Taunton.

"I remember that, and a lot of his runs came against Jacques Kallis and it was very impressive," Fletcher said on Saturday. "An innings like that can show that a guy can play. He has a simple technique and a very good temperament. He sits in the dressing-room as if it's just another game, which is good to see, because temperament is the key."

The six he clumped over mid-wicket to finish the game was the sharpest of punctuation marks to an England performance a world away from the dross they had dished up the previous weekend.

All the bowlers performed excellently, restricting West Indies to 169 for eight, and Brian Lara in particular to 54 from 101 balls. West Indies, however, performed as poorly as England did well. The batting was insipid and the bowling juvenile so that Trescothick and Alec Stewart (74 not out) had the game sewn up with almost 14 overs in hand and with England's third highest opening stand.