Cricket: England Dig Deep to End Windies' Resistance

It was hairier than they might have hoped, but in the end England regained the Wisden Trophy just after lunch at Old Trafford with a 60-run victory over the West Indies.

The tourists were chasing a record total of 455, and though Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted brilliantly to end on 116 not out, an innings described by Michael Vaughan as the best he had ever seen in Test cricket, a steady stream of wickets fell at the other end. West Indies were eventually dismissed for 394, with Monty Panesar taking 6 for 137 (and the first ten-wicket haul of his Test career) and a thrillingly revitalised Steve Harmison 4 for 95.

England have had many potent bowling combinations down the years, from Laker and Lock to Botham and Willis to Flintoff and Jones, but none have been as improbable as these two. On this fabulous, bouncy Old Trafford surface they are almost unstoppable. Last year they took 19 wickets - the other one was a run-out - to rout Pakistan, and here they shared 16 in the match.

In many ways, there was no loser. England held their nerve under unexpected pressure; West Indies revealed hitherto unseen gumption; the groundsman, Peter Marron, produced an a textbook Test pitch; and the umpires, Aleem Dar and Billy Bowden, were immaculate.

West Indies resumed on 301 for five, but they lost Dinesh Ramdin in the third over of the day to a snorter from Panesar that bounced and turned to kiss the edge on its way through to Paul Collingwood at slip.

Darren Sammy, looking to build on his debut seven-for, played some crisp strokes in his 25 and dominated a seventh-wicket partnership of 37 before he was smartly caught-and-bowled by Panesar.

That exposed the tail, but Jerome Taylor, dropped by Collingwood early on, held on resourcefully for 47 balls while Chanderpaul ate slowly into the target. At lunch, with Panesar tiring, West Indies were 379 for seven and looking relatively comfortable. But Harmison changed all that: his first over of the afternoon session included two wickets in four balls and all but settled the game.

Taylor had nowhere to go and could only fend an absolute vicious lifter to short leg, and three balls Fidel Edwards looped another nasty delivery to gully. Chanderpaul moved from first- to fourth-gear and added a few quick runs - if there was a criticism, it was that he should have switched gear earlier - but the game was up when Corey Collymore, pushing at Panesar, fell to a magnificent reflex catch by Ian Bell at short leg.