England wreck West Indies; Pak, SA register facile wins

Chris Woakes took five for 19 as England claimed a comfortable nine-wicket victory in their first official World Cup warm-up match after dismissing a hapless West Indies for 122 in 29.3 overs on Monday.

Openers Moeen Ali (46) and Ian Bell (35 not out) took England more than halfway to their target before their opening partnership was broken and James Taylor (25 not out) joined Bell to finish the job inside 23 overs.

West Indies had won the toss and chosen to bat on a muggy, overcast day at the Sydney Cricket Ground but a calamitous start saw them lose Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo for ducks inside the first over.

All-rounder Woakes removed them both caught behind and things did not get much better for the islanders with wickets falling at regular intervals through the remainder of their 131-minute innings. Lendl Simmons provided the only innings of any substance and a reminder of the firepower West Indies can usually rely upon with a lusty six into the second tier of the historic members' stand. Once he departed caught at cover by James Tredwell at midwicket for 46, though, the writing was on the wall and two overs later Woakes claimed his fifth wicket when Andre Russell holed out for seven to end the innings.

Jason Holder thought he had made an early breakthrough when he had Ali caught at backward point on seven but the batsman was called back when TV replays showed the new West Indies captain had bowled a no-ball.

Reprieved, Ali assumed the heavier workload in the opening partnership and was four runs shy of his half-century when he was caught at extra cover off Kemar Roach after hitting nine fours in his 43-ball knock.

Bell and Taylor put together a 50 partnership in 62 balls to take England to the brink of victory and the latter delivered the coup de grace with a four behind square.

Brief scores:

West Indies: 122 all out in 29.3 overs (Lendl Simmons 45; Chris Woakes 5-19, Steven Finn 2-34) lt to England: 125/1 in 22.5 overs (Ian Bell 35 n.o., Moeen Ali 46).
At Sydney, Bangladesh: 246 all out in 49.5 overs (Tamim Iqbal 81, Mahmudullah 83; Mohammad Irfan 5-52) lt to Pakistan: 247/7 in 48.1 overs (Haris Sohail 39, Sohaib Maqsood 93 .o., Umar Akmal 39; Mashrafe Mortaza 2-50, Taskin Ahmed 2-41).

At Lincoln, New Zealand: 157/7 in 30.1 overs (Martin Guptill 100) vs Zimbabwe. at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln. Match abandoned due to rain.

At Christchurch: Sri Lanka: 279/7 in 44.4 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 100, Angelo Mathews 58; Kyle Abbott 3-37) lt to  South Africa: 188-5 in 24.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 66; Rangana Herath 3-22). Target revised to 188 in 25 overs.