THE euphoria and the satisfaction generated by Sunday's emphatic and efficient victory over England disappeared in an even swifter defeat, by seven wickets with as many as 28 overs to spare, in the second match against the same opponents at Headingley last night.
The optimism began to fade from the time the coin rolled 20 yards at the toss and came down against Brian Lara and had almost completely evaporated by the 15th over at the captain's dismissal at 40 for four.
When a seventh-wicket partnership of 63 from 12 overs between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ricardo Powell promised to raise at least a reasonable total out of the shambles of 72 for six, a catch of inconceivable brilliance by Paul Collingwood at backward point removed Sarwan and reasserted England's control.
Sarwan, batting with utmost certainty and style for 46 from 74 balls with four fours, latched on to a long- hop from Marcus Trescothick's occasional medium-pace with all the force of his favourite cut shot.
Somehow, Collingwood, 20 yards away, leapt as high as gravity would allow and grabbed the whistling white missile with his right hand.
In Saturday's match against New Zealand, Powell seized an amazing catch in the same position to account for the dumbfounded Stephen Fleming. There would not be a better catch all tournament, I reported then. This was.
It was also the type that wins matches and, if it did not exactly win this, it certainly made England's task appreciably easier.
Powell played on to the ever-threatening Steve Harmison two runs later for 36, off 37 balls with the inevitable six to add to six fours, and the West Indies were all out 159 from 40.1 of their 50 overs.
It was only 12 runs and 11 balls more than England's effort against them on Sunday and placed their young bowlers under pressure. This time, they were not up to it.
Just as Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul did for the West Indies on Sunday, the left-handed Trescothick and captain Michael Vaughan ensured there were no early wobbles for England, adding 50 as they went after the modest target.
Dwayne Bravo's first ball accounted for Vaughan to a slip catch off what would have been a wide had the batsman not gone after it and his 14th found a gap between Robert Key's bat and pad to hit off and middle stumps with a good one.
It was only temporary relief.
Jermaine Lawson, Ravi Rampaul, Bravo himself and the usually steady Ian Bradshaw, in his second spell, served up an inviting combination of wide half-volleys and absurd short stuff that Trescothick, fellow left-hander Andrew Strauss and, finally, Andrew Flintoff pummelled for 21 fours between them.
There was also Flintoff's gigantic pulled six off the ragged Rampaul to further excite a sellout crowd of 15,000 basking in sunshine and English sporting success.
Both had been in short supply of late, with the unfriendly summer weather and losses in the past 10 days to Australia in rugby, Portugal in Euro 2004 football semi-final, the West Indies and New Zealand in cricket and Tim Henman's at Wimbledon.
Flintoff, originally ruled out of the series by an ankle injury and still incapable of bowling, had been summoned to bolster the batting after totals of 147 and 101 in the two previous matches.
It was an indication of the desperation of an England team for which a third successive defeat would virtually erased their chances of qualifying for the July 10 final of the triangular tournament.
He was needed only to put the finishing touches to a victory that earned them a bonus point for completing it within 40 overs - and denied the West Indies a point had they not.
So New Zealand remain at the head of the table with 12 points from three matches. The West Indies, who play New Zealand in the next match in Cardiff tomorrow, have nine from three and England nine from four.
The loss of the toss that committed them to batting first was an immediate psychological setback.
Lara and Vaughan have made no secret of their preference for bowling to make use of the usual early life in English pitches.
Lara's fears were quickly confirmed as Harmison, fast, direct and generating steep bounce, posed serious questions.
Chanderpaul and Dwayne Smith edged catches to the 'keeper, raising questions about the latter's continued placement at No.3.
The ball after Smith was out, Gayle, whose 23 off 29 balls with six fours were made with confident panache, was run out by Vaughan's direct hit of the stumps as he answered Sarwan's dangerous call for a sharp single.
It was a needless setback and when Lara launched himself into two expansive drives at James Anderson's swing and inside edged the second back into his stumps, England had an early stranglehold on the match.
Anderson's swing also accounted for Bravo and Ridley Jacobs who, for some reason, was sent above Powell.
It left Sarwan and Powell to retrieve the situatio and they were doing it sensibly against an England team reconstructed to beef up the batting at the expense of the bowling when Collingwood's magic accounted for Sarwan in the 33rd over.