An incredible innings of 80 from Paul Collingwood was not enough to get England past the West Indies’ total of 208, in an extraordinary game of cricket at the Brit Oval

The West Indies won the toss and opted to make first use of the batsman friendly conditions, starting in fine style thanks to some explosive striking from Devon Smith.

After the early loss of Chris Gayle, who was bowled by James Anderson, Smith took charge to smear the ball to the boundary. This combined with some deft batting from Shivnarine Chanderpaul saw the West Indies race past the 50 mark at more than 10 runs per over.

When Chanderpaul went, he had helped his side get to three short of 100, a strong platform for some more powerful stroke play. Meanwhile Smith continued in devastating fashion to go past his half century before finally being caught in the deep for 61 from only 34 balls.

A couple of quick wickets followed, which set the scene for Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin. The pair played some remarkable shots, from lofted drives over the extra cover boundary to paddle sweeps off the medium pacers.

Samuels struck the ball hard and his partnership with Ramdin was the main reason that the West Indies got past the 200 mark to eventually post 208 for eight from their 20 overs.

In reply England got off to a solid start thanks to Ali Cook and Matt Prior. Running well between the wickets both players blitzed the odd boundary to take England up to 40. However without any addition, Cook was caught off a leading edge at backward point.

England’s number three, Jonathan Trott, never seemed comfortable and could only manage to score nine before he played down the wrong line to be bowled. Behind the rate the pressure was on Kevin Pietersen to start something special. He began to find his form until a remarkable bit of fielding saw the back of England’s best player, run out for just 16.

Struggling for quick runs with the score 78, England were in need of a magical innings. They lost two more wickets, but Paul Collingwood found a solid partner in Michael Yardy.

From an almost impossible situation Collingwood gave his side some hope by smashing maximum after maximum. Yardy then got in on the act to get the equation down to 45 from three overs.

A brilliant penultimate over from Ravi Rampaul proved to be the difference in the end as it went for only three to leave England needing almost a boundary every delivery of the last over. Dwayne Bravo made it very difficult for both Yardy and Collingwood to get under the ball and as a result he took his side past the winning post with England falling just 15 runs short.

Add to Del.icio.us Digg it share on Facebook (What is this?)

• Get the England One Day Shirt 06/08, Adults.