AFP/London

Alastair Cook of England celebrates after reaching his century against the West Indies at the Oval in London yesterday
England captain Alastair Cook led his side to a series-clinching eight-wicket win over the West Indies in the second one-day international (ODI) with an impressive hundred at The Oval here yesterday. England, set 239, finished on 239 for two with five overs left after man-of-the-match Cook made 112 and shared stands of 122 and 81 with Ian Bell (53) and Jonathan Trott (43 not out) respectively.
Victory gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in this three-match series and was their sixth successive victory at this level after a 4-0 clean sweep of Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in February.
Significantly it was also the sixth straight ODI match where an England opener had made a hundred, with three of those belonging to Cook.
Earlier, Dwayne Bravo’s 77 had been the cornerstone of West Indies’ 238 for nine, an innings where Chris Gayle marked his return to international cricket with a rapid fifty.
But Gayle’s exit sparked a match-turning collapse that saw four wickets lost for 16 runs.
“It was a really good win under some tricky circumstances,” said Cook.
“The bowlers set it up well and we came through. As a bowler, you’ve got to keep plugging away against Chris Gayle and hope he makes a mistake.”
Left-handed opener Cook, reflecting on his innings, added: “It’s nice to score some runs. I haven’t hit the ball as well as I’d like this summer, so to get a hundred in a match-winning performance is good.”
West Indies, beaten 2-0 in the preceding three-Test series by England, came into this leg of the tour insisting one-day cricket was their stronger suit.
But this crushing loss followed a 114-run thrashing, albeit under the Duckworth/Lewis method, in the first ODI at Southampton on Saturday.
“We didn’t score enough runs,” said West Indies captain Darren Sammy. “At the end of the day you need runs on the board to defend.
“We wanted 280, we know the Oval wicket is a good one. We know cricket isn’t played on paper, it’s played out in the middle. You have to go out and perform and we haven’t done that.” 
Cook and Bell—who made 126 at Southampton—were rarely troubled.
But just when it looked the pair would not be parted, Bell chipped a slower ball from Sammy to Gayle in the covers.