Bridgetown (Barbados), April 22 (IANS-CMC) To the chagrin of a capacity crowd, Brian Lara's final appearance for West Indies failed to be the fairy-tale swansong as West Indies lost an inconsequential World Cup Super Eight match by one wicket to England Saturday.

Chasing 301 for victory from their allocation of 50 overs, England instead gave their departing coach Duncan Fletcher the grand send-off, when Stuart Broad lofted Dwayne Bravo over cover for two to give the visitors victory with one ball to spare.

Ironically, it was left to Lara to fetch the ball from just in front of the new Greenidge & Haynes Stand on the western side of the ground. It was the final match of the second round. Both the West Indies and England failed to make the semi-finals.

Kevin Pietersen led the way for England with an even 100 from 91 balls - his fifth century, and second of the World Cup, to earn the Man-of-the-Match award.

England captain Michael Vaughan eased the criticism about him opening the batting when he scored 79 off 58 balls, and Paul Nixon gathered a vital 38 from 39 balls in the closing overs to give England their final push towards victory.

Dwayne Bravo snared two wickets for 47 runs from 9.5 overs, and Jerome Taylor took two for 65 from his allotment of 10 overs.

Pietersen reached his hundred when he lofted Jerome Taylor over wide long-on for his only six before the same bowler castled him next delivery with a well-pitched off-cutter that extracted the leg-stump.

England still needed 32 from 22 balls when Pietersen departed, and the tension was building, but Paul Nixon eased his side's worries, when he clubbed three fours in the 48th over from Corey Collymore.

Dwayne Bravo bowled Nixon with his deceptive slower ball with the second ball of the final over, but Broad and James Anderson kept their nerve when everyone else was losing theirs, and carried their across the finish line.

Lara had been run out for 18 in his final innings, as a crowd of 22,452 groaned with disappointment.

Lara was dismissed in the 31st over, when backing up too far, he got into a tangle with Marlon Samuels, and he was sent back, but he could not beat Pietersen's direct hit at the bowler's end.

Lara, 37, tucked his bat under his arm, walked towards the West Indies dressing room, and just before he crossed the boundary rope, he turned and lifted his bat and helmet into the air to signal thanks to the crowd whose applause was now deafening.

Lara walked through a receiving line formed by his teammates at the bottom of the steps to the West Indies' dressing room, and ran up the steps and disappeared into the enclosure with the crowd still applauding.

Lara's dismissal overshadowed half-centuries from Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, and Marlon Samuels that propelled the World Cup hosts to their highest total of the competition - 300 all out in 49.5 overs.

Gayle top-scored with 79 from 58 balls, Smith supported with 61 off 106 balls, and Marlon Samuels got 51 in 39 balls, after West Indies were sent in to bat on hard, bouncy Kensington Oval pitch in ideal conditions.

England captain Michael Vaughan was the pick of his side's bowlers with three wickets for 39 runs from his allotment of 10 overs, and Andrew Flintoff took two for 59 off 9.5 overs.

West Indies then had early success, when Andrew Strauss was caught at square leg for seven off Collymore in the third over.

Ravi Bopara came to the crease and added 90 for the second wicket with Vaughan to give England a base from which to make their assault on the West Indies' target.

Bopara was run out in the 16th over, and Pietersen came to put on 53 for the third wicket with Vaughan before the England captain too, was run out in the 27th over.

England then wobbled to 189 for six before Pietersen and Nixon got them back on course for victory with a stand of 80 for the seventh wicket.

Earlier, Gayle, whose innings included a six into the top deck of the new Three Ws Stand at the Joel Garner End of the ground, and Smith shared an opening stand of 131 before West Indies plunged to 181 for four in the 34th over.

Samuels and left-hander Shivanrine Chanderpaul then put West Indies back on track with a stand of 77 for the fifth wicket, but the home team lost their way in the closing stages, and six wickets for 42 runs in the space of seven overs.

SCOREBOARD

Match No. 48, West Indies vs England (second round), World Cup, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown (Barbados )

West Indies:

Chris Gayle c Broad b Flintoff 79

Dwayne Smith c Collingwood b Flintoff 61

Brian Lara run out (Pietersen) 18

Marlon Samuels c Collingwood b Vaughan 51

Ramnaresh Sarwan c Nixon b Plunkett 3

Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Plunkett b Collingwood 34

Dwayne Bravo c Dalrymple b Vaughan 13

Denesh Ramdin not out 10

Jerome Taylor c Dalrymple b Vaughan 12

Daren Powell run out (Flintoff) 0

Corey Collymore run out (Flintoff) 1

Extras: (lb 1, w 14, nb 3) 18

Total: (all out in 49.5 overs) 300

Fall of wickets1-131 (Gayle, 23.5 overs), 2-168 (Smith, 29.3), 3-173 (Lara, 30.5), 4-181 (Sarwan, 33.2), 5-258 (Samuels, 42.5), 6-276 (Chanderpaul, 45.3), 7-277 (Bravo, 46.1), 8-296 (Taylor, 48.5), 9-298 (Powell, 49.2)

Bowling:

James Anderson 6 0 39 0 (6w)

Liam Plunkett 7 0 71 1 (2nb, 5w)

Stuart Broad 6 1 32 0 (1w)

Andrew Flintoff 9.5 0 59 2 (1nb)

Jamie Dalrymple 3 0 19 0 (1w)

Paul Collingwood 8 0 40 1 (1w)

Michael Vaughan 10 0 39 3

England:

Andrew Strauss c Smith b Collymore 7

Michael Vaughan run out (Bravo) 79

Ravi Bopara run out (Bravo) 26

Kevin Pietersen b Taylor 100

Paul Collingwood b Bravo 6

Andrew Flintoff c Powell b Sarwan 15

Jamie Dalrymple run out (Smith) 1

Paul Nixon b Bravo 38

Liam Plunkett c Bravo b Taylor 2

Stuart Broad not out 5

James Anderson not out 0

Extras: (b 6, lb 11, w 5) 22

Total: (for 9 wickets in 49.5 overs) 301

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Strauss, 2.3 overs), 2-101 (Bopara, 15.3), 3-154 (Vaughan, 26.3), 4-162 (Collingwood, 29.2), 5-185 (Flintoff, 34.2), 6-189 (Dalrymple, 35.5), 7-269 (Pietersen, 46.2), 8-271 (Plunkett, 46.5), 9-298 (Nixon, 49.2)

Bowling:

Corey Collymore 10 0 61 1 (2w)

Daren Powell 10 0 58 0 (2w)

Jerome Taylor 10 1 65 2

Chris Gayle 5 0 32 0

Dwayne Bravo 9.5 0 47 2 (1w)

Ramnaresh Sarwan 5 1 21 1

Result: England won by 1 wicket

Man of the Match: Kevin Pieterson (England)

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Simon Taufel (Australia)

TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)

Reserve umpire: Steve Bucknor (West Indies)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

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