England bat in crunch match

Chennai - England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat against the West Indies in their Cricket World Cup Group B match at the Chidamabaram Stadium on Thursday.

England, who had to win this match to have any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, made three changes to the side that suffered a shock two-wicket loss to Bangladesh.

Fast bowler Ajmal Shahzad was ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a recurrence of a left hamstring.

Seamer James Anderson was dropped after taking just four wickets this World Cup at an average of more than 70 apiece while Paul Collingwood was also axed.

Fast bowler Chris Tremlett replaced Anderson and Luke Wright came in for Collingwood.

Having seen how the wicket helped slow bowlers in their six-run group win here over South Africa, England brought in a second specialist spinner in off-break bowler James Tredwell to supplement Graeme Swann.

West Indies welcomed back dynamic opener Chris Gayle, fit-again after missing the 44-run win over Ireland with an abdominal strain, in place of veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

They also gave a one-day international debut to leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo in place of left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.

Defeat for England will send the West Indies as well as India and Bangladesh into the last eight along with South Africa, who've already qualified.

Sri Lanka umpire Asoka de Silva, who was due to stand in this match, was replaced by Australia's Bruce Oxenford after a series of poor decisions.

Teams:

England:

Andrew Strauss (captain), Matt Prior (wkt), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett

West Indies:

Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas (wkt), Darren Sammy (captain), Andre Russell, Sulieman Benn, Davendra Bishoo, Kemar Roach

Umpires: Steve Davis (AUS) and Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

TV umpire: Simon Taufel (AUS)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

Pitch conditions: One of the most bowler friendly surfaces in the tournament promises another low-scoring thriller after England's six-run win against South Africa.