The margin of seven wickets with 11.4 overs in hand was as comprehensive and significant as any in recent times.

Nor did it flatter a thoroughly efficient all-round team performance that is an immediate boost to collective and individual self-confidence at the start of a potentially difficult tour.

It is not often of late that it has been possible to present such a report.

To boot, it earned the West Indies a bonus point to add to the basic five for a win and denied England the point they would have gotten from a closer result. So, after two matches each, the West Indies have nine points, New Zealand six (three each from their two no results) and England three.

Ian Bradshaw, in his eighth one-day international but, at 29, chronically ancient alongside his colleagues in the attack, pulled the rug from under England by dispatching their seasoned openers with only two runs scored after the toss gave Brian Lara the preferred option of bowling.

Marcus Trethcothick flicked the left-hander's fourth ball into Lara's lap at square-leg and captain Michael Vaughan skewed his seventh to mid-on.

Man of the Match Dwayne Bravo, Jermaine Lawson, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Smith, all under 23 and with no more than 45 such matches between them, then so effectively utilised a pitch that assisted their varied swing and cut that England were dismissed for 147 with 11.4 of their 50 overs unused.

It was the lowest ODI total at Trent Bridge but it still had to be passed.

There was plenty of evidence to temper West Indian optimism, most recently in St.Vincent last month when a last wicket partnership of 12 was needed to pass Bangladesh's 145.

A few early wickets would have been unnerving but England spurned them by missing both Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the slips off the aging Darren Gough before they were in double figures.

It allowed them to come through a testing examination over the first 12 overs, especially from the fiery Steve Harmison, their nemesis of a few months back in the Test series in the Caribbean, and lay the foundation for the win with an opening partnership of 62.

After riding the storm, and sustaining several blows in tender areas, Chanderpaul chopped the gentle medium-pacer Anthony McGrath's second ball back into his stumps in the 20th over.

When Dwayne Smith, driving hard, and Ramnaresh Sarwan, surprised by a lifter, were both taken in the slips off Jimmy Anderson, the contest was still alive at 93 for three.

Lara arrived and immediately killed it with a succession of thrilling strokes while stirring Gayle into similar action.

The captain disdainfully slapped a first ball bouncer from Anderson for the first of his six fours and formalised the result with his last, a sublime on-drive off the same bowler.

His 32 was made from 29 balls and his partnership of 55 with Gayle from 45.

Until joined by Lara, the target neared and his timing returned, Gayle was vulnerable to the moving ball. But, frequently cajoled by Chanderpaul, he stuck it out and was rewarded to be unbeaten 60 off 90 balls at the end.

There were a few trademark power-packed blows among his nine fours but the tall left-hander was intent on coming to terms with England's singular conditions that will test his technique over the coming two months as much as anyone's.

That he should have shown such restraint completed a thoroughly satisfying day.

The star was Bravo whose impeceable off-stump line, consistent length and away swing at nippy medium-pace earned him three wickets for 26 from his consecutive 10 overs.

Lawson's continuing rehabilitation following his year's absence from international cricket and Rampaul's spirit in recovering from the nightmare of the previous day in the abandoned match against New Zealand were other advances to please Lara and coach Gus Logie.

Lawson's rhythm was comfortable and, if his pace remains well down on what it was when he was ordered to have corrective work on his action, he probed on a consistent full length.

The aftermath of Rampaul's opening, 12-ball over a day earlier that cost 18 was obvious with a nervous, very wide first ball when Lara introduced him as second change.

But once he cut one back to bowl Geraint Jones off the inside-edge to end a threatening second wicket stand of 82 off 90 balls with the left-handed Andrew Strauss, his confidence returned.

Jones once more confirmed why the selectors have preferred him to Chris Read as their wicket-keeper with his robust strokeplay that yielded 35 with seven fours from 45 balls.

He and the left-handed Strauss were untroubled as they built their restorative partnership following Bradshaw's two early strikes

But Jones' removal marked the end of England's resistance as the West Indies bowlers asserted themselves with their accuracy and the occasional wicked delivery.

Two such were Rampaul's leg-cutter that found Paul Collingwood's edge on its way into Ridley Jacobs' gloves and Bravo's that did the same to Strauss five balls later.

Bravo's other victims were the left-handed Ian Blackwell, whose hearty pull shot was plucked out of the air by Chanderpaul at mid-wicket, and McGrath, neatly held by Gayle low to his right at slip.

By then, England were stalled, going scoreless for 15 balls from Bradshaw and Bravo. They would have fallen for even fewer but for Gayle's straightforward miss at slip off Gough from Lawson.

Lawson eventually got his man, bowling Gough as he did Harmison and Smith rounding things off with an lbw decision against Rikki Clarke.

After that, it was up to the batsmen and they did not flunk the task.