Read rides to England's rescue

Chris Read scored a gutsy 27 off 15 balls to turn the first one-day international with West Indies around.

08:36 19 April 2004

Chris Read turned the first one-day international with West Indies on its head with a gutsy 27 off 15 balls after a mini England collapse in a rain-reduced clash in Guyana.

The wicket-keeper, dropped in favour Geraint Jones for the final Test last week, came in to the crease with the West Indies in control, but thumped three sixes and one four to turn the tables.

His knock helped the tourists pass the West Indian total of 156-5 with three balls of their 30 overs to spare, although he himself was back in the pavilion by the time the winning runs came.

It fell to veteran fast-bowler Darren Gough to claim the glory, and he duly smashed two runs off Chris Gayle to finish on nine not out with Stephen Harmison at the other end.

Earlier, Shivnarine Chanderpaul had made a point to the West Indian selectors who dropped him from the last Test with a 96-ball knock of 84, helping the hosts to set a challenging target.

Darren Gough finally removed the batsman by catching him off his own bowling, and ended up with good return figures of 2-22, exactly the same as Andrew Flintoff.

Rikki Clarke took the other wicket but Harmison (0-34 from six overs), James Kirtley (0-28 from six), and Paul Collingwood (0-17 off only one over) were all expensive for the tourists.

In reply, Michael Vaughan fell for a third-ball duck, before Trescothick (26) and Andrew Strauss (29) pushed the total on to 60-1.

But West Indies' bowlers continued to make inroads, and only Ian Blackwell's 27 from 21 balls, including two towering sixes, gave them any real resistance until Read's late dramatics.