Morton leads West Indies fireworks

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Chris Gayle cuts out on his way to 82, England v West Indies, 3rd ODI, Trent Bridge Saturday. — Photo: Internet.

A sedate 82 from Chris Gayle and a mature innings from Runako Morton built an impressive total for West Indies in the deciding one-day international at Trent Bridge. Gayle batted into the 42nd over, anchoring the innings while England chipped away, before Morton added the late impetus alongside Dwayne Bravo as the final 10 overs again proved profitable for West Indies, reports Cricinfo.
In similar style to their well-paced innings on Wednesday at Trent Bridge, West Indies first ensured they had a solid platform before launching into the final ten overs. Earlier in the week they smashed 102 in the last 10 overs, here they went even better with 116. It was a rare occasion of West Indies' blossoming without a major contribution from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who fell for 33 just as he seemed ready to end his tour in style. Morton took up the slack after Chanderpaul's relative failure and made England pay for dropping him on 4, a thin edge to Matt Prior off Dimitri Mascarenhas, as the home side had a poor day in the field.
The fifth-wicket stand of 92 with Bravo put England under severe pressure as the pair ran smartly between the wickets and took advantage of any fumbles. The fifty stand came up in less than five overs, as Morton took 17 off Stuart Broad's eighth over including a brutal straight six, and Bravo freed his arms through the off side with a string of powerful boundaries.
Gayle decided early on that he would take the responsibility of building the innings on his shoulders. He was offered two lives, firstly on 4 when Alastair Cook dropped a fierce drive at short cover, then on 20 when Ian Bell missed a straightforward effort at backward point. Bell had earlier held a smart catch to remove Devon Smith, but made a complete mess of the second offering and barely got a hand on the ball.
Gayle picked off anything over-pitched from the England bowlers and Chanderpaul quickly carried on from where he left off at Edgbaston. Liam Plunkett managed to extract a rare edge only to watch it fly wide of Owais Shah at the lone slip, and when Monty Panesar, brought back in place of Michael Yardy, was given a bowl it didn't take long for Chanderpaul to deposit him down the ground for the day's first six.
He was shaping for another tour de force before the innings was brought to an ugly end against Plunkett. Trying to take advantage of the final Powerplay he top-edged an attempted heave over the leg side and Kevin Pietersen held a superb catch over his shoulder at midwicket. The celebrations were tinged with relief; Chanderpaul's previous lowest score on the tour had been 41.
Plunkett continued an improved third spell with his second scalp, removing the dangerous Marlon Samuels with a leg-cutter that was edged to Prior, but Gayle remained focused on his task. His fifty came off 85 balls and he was set for a century before spooning a return catch back to Plunkett for his third wicket. Morton, though, made sure the captain's hard work didn't go to waste.
Scorecard
West Indies innings: Run
CH Gayle c & b Plunkett 82
DS Smith c Bell b Anderson 13
Chanderpaul c Pietersen b Plunkett 33
MN Samuels c Prior b Plunkett 9 RS Morton not out 82
DJ Bravo b Anderson 42
DR Smith not out 4
Extras: (b 5, lb 6, w 9, nb 4) 24
Total: (5 wickets; 50 overs) 289
Fall of wickets1-16 (DS Smith, 2.3 ov), 2-93 (Chanderpaul, 20.1 ov), 3-108 (Samuels, 22.4 ov), 4-193 (Gayle, 41.6 ov), 5-285 (Bravo, 49.5 ov)
England innings : Run
AN Cook c DR Smith b Powell 18 MJ Prior c Ramdin b Powell 1 IR Bell c DR Smith b Edwards 27 KP Pietersen c DS Smith b Powell 0
OA Shah c Ramdin b DR Smith 51 PD Collingwood b Bravo 44 AD Mascarenhas not out 5 Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 7, nb 3) 16 Total: (6 wickets; 33.5 overs) 162 To bat: LE Plunkett, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, MS Panesar
Toss: West Indies, who chose to bat first