West Indies snatched victory from England's grasp with a dramatic ninth-wicket partnership of 71, between Ian Bradshaw (34*) and Courtney Browne (35*), which took them to a two-wicket win with seven balls to spare.

Their partnership drove West Indies to their first major trophy win since the World Cup in 1979 and to fulfilment of what Brian Lara had called his side's 'destiny' when they knew they would face England in the final.

It was sweet revenge after being on the receiving end in the Test matches all summer, but when the pair had come together in the 34th over West Indies were in desperate trouble at 147-8 chasing England's 217 all out, an innings built around a marvellous 104 from Marcus Trescothick.

Both batsmen excelled all expectations by achieving their highest scores in one-day cricket, scrambling singles and smashing fours in gathering gloom at The Oval.

They bravely refused an offer of bad light with four overs to bowl and 19 runs needed, believing the momentum was with them and it proved the right decision as Bradshaw carved Alex Wharf through cover for four to end the game.

One of the problems for England was the poor form of Darren Gough, whose 10 overs cost 58 runs, well over a quarter of the total, and forced Michael Vaughan to bowl the part-time seam of Paul Collingwood and Trescothick.

However, Vaughan's decision not to bowl Ashley Giles, albeit on a pitch helping the seamers, may also have cost England the game, as it meant that Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison had finished their allotted overs well before the end of the game.

England had also collapsed alarmingly on a pitch offering a lot of seam movement in cloudy, swinging conditions, but a magnificent eighth ODI hundred by Marcus Trescothick held their innings together and at a least gave them a total to bowl at.

The only other England player to make more than 20 was Giles (31), in a seventh-wicket partnership of 63 from 56 balls with Trescothick, which took England to 217 after they had looked like falling apart at 148-6.

With a total to bowl at, England's brightest stars, Harmison and Flintoff, had looked like winning the game.

Harmison's hostile opening spell brought the wicket of Wavell Hinds, then Flintoff made a dramatic entrance by taking the wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan (five), with his first ball.

Harmison forced an error from Gayle before a fascinating battle ensued between Lara and Flintoff with the match apparently hinging on it.

But Flintoff, as so often this summer, had the final word, when the ball again rose off a good length to take the edge and dismiss Lara for 14, at which point West Indies were 72-4 and in deep trouble with their three best one-day players gone.

Flintoff grabbed a third wicket, that of Dwayne Bravo for a duck, edging to the keeper to make it 80-5 and West Indies looked dead and buried but the redoubtable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, one of the world's gutsiest cricketers, fought back.

He struck a vital 47 from 66 balls, including three fours off an over from Gough, and West Indies were back in the game, though after Chanderpaul became the eighth wicket at 147, England were hot favourites.

England had lost wickets continuously, though it did not help that Andrew Strauss attempted a risky run and was brilliantly run out by Bravo for 18, and Collingwood played an uncharacteristically injudicious slog to leg when calm was required.

Another brilliant match-defining piece of fielding dismissed Flintoff for three, when Lara caught a powerful pull off Wavell Hinds low to his left at cover, though Flintoff would get his revenge later in the game.

Hinds, at little more than medium pace, took 3-24 in his 10 overs, the best figures in a long career, and Bravo proved equally hard to hit, conceding only two boundaries in his 10 overs and frustrating Trescothick's attempts at getting on with the game.

But Trescothick managed to break free of the stranglehold at important moments without losing his wicket, firstly in Corey Collymore's fifth over, when he hit three boundaries to give the innings momentum, and later in the innings, when he got Bravo away for two more fours.

West Indies had two chances to dismiss him, one on 83 that should have been taken, when he was dropped by Courtney Browne off Ian Bradshaw, then again on 94, when Ricardo Powell dropped a difficult diving chance behind square.

Taking advantage of his luck, Trescothick cut, scythed, drove and slog-swept his way to a century off 124 balls, relying on his sublime timing to get him through on a difficult pitch.

The measure of his brilliance was that no other batsman made fifty in the game but the failure of England's other top-order players to support him ultimately cost his side the game.

England: MP Vaughan (capt), VS Solanki, ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, GO Jones, AF Giles, AG Wharf, D Gough, SJ Harmison.

West Indies: BC Lara (capt), CH Gayle, W Hinds, RR Sarwan, S Chanderpaul, RL Powell, DJJ Bravo, C Browne, R Hinds, IDR Bradshaw, C Collymore.

25 Sep, 2004