| Scorecard: | West Indies v England |
| Player: | S Chanderpaul, AJ Strauss |
| Event: | England in West Indies 2008/09 |
An unbeaten 112 by Shivnarine Chanderpaul trumped a fine 105 from Andrew Strauss on Sunday as the West Indies beat England by 21 runs in the second One-Day International at the National Stadium at Providence.
Chanderpaul's 10th One-day century, spiced with 10 fours off 134 balls, was the backbone of the home team's challenging 264-8 off 50 overs, which proved enough to level the five-match series 1-1. Fellow Guyanese Ramnaresh Sarwan chipped in with 74 off 89 deliveries. James Anderson (3/37) led England's attack while medium pacers Paul Collingwood (3/49) and Dimitri Mascarenhas (2/53) provided fine support.
Strauss anchored England's chase but the visitors were bowled out for 243 off 48.2 overs. The 32-year-old Strauss cracked seven fours off 129 balls in his third One-day hundred before he was ninth out. The medium pacers Dwayne Bravo (2/40), Kieron Pollard (2/46) and Darren Sammy (1/36 in 10 overs) starred for the home team.
The West Indies were in early peril after they won the toss and batted. The 26-year-old Anderson removed both openers as the home team limped to 24-2. Lendl Simmons (0) feathered an edge to wicket-keeper Matt Prior while captain Chris Gayle (20 off 20 balls) was bowled off the inside edge just as he looked dangerous. Sarwan and Chanderpaul, cheered on by a capacity crowd of 15,000, revived the innings with their century stand that spanned 30 overs. England should have claimed Chanderpaul, then 27, at 80-2, but Prior put down a regulation catch standing up to Mascarenhas.
Anderson eventually returned to remove Sarwan in the first over of the batting powerplay. The right-hander lofted a catch to mid-off at 157-3. Chanderpaul, who became the third West Indian to pass 8,000 One-day runs when he reached 96, dominated a 49-run stand with Kieron Pollard that accelerated the West Indian innings. But Pollard and the rest of the lower order could not provide telling assistance for Chanderpaul and the last ten overs only provided 57 runs. Mascarenhas dismissed Pollard and Dwayne Bravo (19) to two boundary catches. Bravo fell to a brilliant one from Collingwood backpedalling and hauling in a catch over his head. Collingwood then made an impact with the ball, removing Denesh Ramdin (1), Darren Sammy (11) and Nikita Miller (0) as the innings faded.
England's reply also stuttered early, falling to 36/2 as Ravi Bopara (14) and Kevin Pietersen (12) departed cheaply. Bopara dragged into his stumps from Lionel Baker while Pietersen fell in similar circumstances to Fidel Edwards. Strauss and Owais Shah (22) rebuilt the innings in a stand of 50 for the third wicket before Bravo put his stamp on the match. He removed Shah and Paul Collingwood in the same over as England fell away in mid-innings.
When Matt Prior was caught behind off Sammy, the visitors were down and out at 97/5. Strauss found an able ally in Dimitri Mascarenhas as the pair rallied in a partnership of 59. But when Mascarenhas was run out by a fine piece of fielding from Chris Gayle and Stuart Broad and Gareth Batty followed swiftly at 185/8, it seemed that Strauss was left too much to do. He and Steve Harmison shared a stand of 44 to lift fading hopes. But Pollard returned to pluck out Strauss's leg stump and also bowl Anderson to seal the victory.