Nine-wicket Win England Clinch Windies Series Win

Nottingham: England sweep to a nine-wicket victory over West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge to wrap up the series with a match to spare.

The four-day win, allied to the five-wicket victory at Lord's a week ago, means England go to Edgbaston next week with an unassailable lead in the three-match rubber.

It is England's seventh series win on the bounce at home, and their sixth in seven against West Indies.

Samuels was the lone obstruction to England's seemingly inevitable progress once he had lost overnight partner Darren Sammy for 25, to Tim Bresnan's fourth lbw of the innings.

Kemar Roach went in the same fashion to James Anderson before Samuels launched a late assault on the England bowling.

Graeme Swann had Shane Shillingford caught by Anderson at slip for a 22-ball duck but was then smashed for two mighty straight sixes by the phlegmatic Samuels.

Ravi Rampaul edged to third slip to end the fun and leave Samuels with an aggregate score in the match of 193.

Roach again found real pace in his opening spell as England began their pursuit.

But, with the pitch remaining as true as it had been on the first three days, Strauss and Cook chipped away at the modest target in unhurried fashion.

In doing so they became the third most prolific opening pair in Test history after Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.

Strauss was clearly irritated to push a gentle loosener from Samuels down Darren Bravo's throat at cover, but he has still been England's best batsman in the series.

The match had been won and lost late on Sunday when Bresnan's spell of 3-10 blew the West Indies' fragile top order apart.

Man of the match Tim Bresnan finished with 4-37, and there was at last reward for Anderson's excellence with 4-43 from 20 overs.

Stats

• England won their eighth Test against West Indies by a margin of nine or more wickets. Four of these wins have come in Tests played since 2000. They have won four each in England and West Indies.
• Since the beginning of 2008, England have won eight of nine home series. Their last home series defeat came against South Africa in 2008.
• West Indies have won just two Tests against top Test teams (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) since 2009. Their last win came against Pakistan in Guyana when they won by 40 runs.
• West Indies have now lost 17 of their last 26 Tests played against England since 2000. They have managed only two wins in the same period - the first was in Edgbaston (2000) and the second in Jamaica (2009).

Brief scores
West Indies 370 (Samuels 117, Sammy 106, Bresnan 4-104) and 165 (Samuels 76*, Bresnan 4-37, Anderson 4-43)
England 428 (Strauss 141, Pietersen 80, Bresnan 39*, Rampaul 3-78) and 111 for 1 (Strauss 45, Cook 43*)
Result England won by nine wickets
MOM Tim Bresnan (England)