ENGLAND suffered one of their most humiliating defeats in Test history after being bowled out for just 51 on the fourth day of the first Test in Jamaica.
Jerome Taylor, who finished with 5-11, ripped apart the tourists' top order and had them reeling on 26-7 at one point and in danger of their lowest ever Test score.
A late rally of 24 from Lancashire's Andrew Flintoff, the only man to reach double figures, saw them past the 45 they were dismissed for by Australia in Sydney in 1886, but when he was bowled by Fidel Edwards the West Indies wiped up the tail in double quick time to secure victory by an innings and 23 runs. It is England's third lowest Test score.
Having conceded a 74-run deficit on first innings, England imploded either side of lunch.
Jamaican Taylor began the clatter when he angled one across Alastair Cook for Devon Smith, at second slip, to cling onto the catch at the second attempt.
West Indies were then buoyed on the stroke of lunch when left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn dismissed the out-of-sorts Ian Bell.
Despite it being a delivery of fullish length, Warwickshire's Bell attempted to cut and only succeeded in bottom-edging through to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, who held a neat catch.
West Indies moved in for the kill after the interval as Taylor accounted for Pietersen in spectacular fashion, a full delivery of late swing cartwheeling off-stump.
When Strauss nicked behind in the 17th over, the home crowd sensed a rare victory over England - the last three series between the teams have provided a collective score of 10-0.
And in the delirium that ensued, Taylor, generating some serious pace, bowled both Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior off inside edges in his next over.
It was a quality of pace bowling which any of the West Indies' greats would have been proud of in their pomp with Taylor being rewarded for keeping the ball full on a sluggish surface.
Not that the struggle was confined to one end, however, as giant spinner Benn wheeled away impressively once more ending with 4-31.
England scored at just a run per over off him, in fact, and lost a seventh wicket when Stuart Broad tamely turned a delivery to short leg. Flintoff, Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Harmison quickly followed as England's humiliation was confirmed.
“We were entirely outplayed by a very good West Indies side," admitted skipper Strauss.
“We haven't done ourselves justice. I thought the bowlers stuck to their task pretty well. We batted pretty poorly today and we paid the price.
“All credit to Jerome Taylor, he bowled pretty straight and fast but we didn't react well.”
Strauss was guarded when asked if England should ring the changes ahead of the second Test in Antigua.
“Now's not the time to be too hasty on these things and we haven't played well. As a batting unit there aren't many positives to come out of this match.
“As a unit we haven't played well and we've got to take it on the chin. We've got three more Test matches to go, we've got some hard work to do.”
Earlier in the day, Broad claimed a maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, finishing with 5-85 in West Indies' 392.
Scoreboard - Day four
West Indies v England
Overnight: England 318 (K P Pietersen 97, M J Prior 64; S J Benn 4-77). West Indies 352-7 (R R Sarwan 107, C H Gayle 104).
West Indies 1st Innings
Nash c Prior b Broad 55
Benn c Cook b Broad 23
Powell c Prior b S J Harmison 9
Edwards not out 10
Extras (b6 lb8 w1 pens 0) 15
TOTAL (157.4 overs)
392
FOW: 1-18 2-220 3-220 4-235 5-254 6-320 7-341 8-371 9-376
Bowling: Sidebottom 24-5-35-0, Flintoff 33-11-72-2, S J Harmison 20.4-4-49-2, Broad 29-7-85-5, Panesar 47-14-122-1, Pietersen 4-1-15-0.
England 2nd Innings
Strauss c Ramdin b Taylor 9
Cook c D S Smith b Taylor 0
Bell c Ramdin b Benn 4
Pietersen b Taylor 1
Collingwood b Taylor 1
Flintoff b Edwards 24
Prior b Taylor 0
Broad c Marshall b Benn 0
Sidebottom lbw b Benn 6
Harmison b Benn 0
Panesar not out 0
Extras (b2 nb4 pens 0) 6
TOTAL
(33.2 overs)
51
FOW: 1-1 2-11 3-12 4-20 5-23 6-23 7-26 8-50 9-51
Bowling: Taylor 9-4-11-5, D B L Powell 7-3-5-0, Benn 14.2-2-31-4, Gayle 2-1-1-0, Edwards 1-0-1-1
Lowest England totals
45 England v Australia Sydney 1886-87
46 England v West Indies Port of Spain 1993-94
51 England v West Indies Kingston 2009
52 England v Australia The Oval 1948
53 England v Australia Lord's 1888
61 England v Australia Melbourne 1901-02
61 England v Australia Melbourne 1903-04
Lowest England totals v West Indies
46 England v West Indies Port of Spain 1993-94
51 England v West Indies Kingston 2009
71 England v West Indies Old Trafford 1976
89 England v West Indies Edgbaston 1995

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