DERBY, England (CMC):

West Indies' preparation for next week's first Test suffered a huge blow when they were handed a convincing 10-wicket defeat by England Lions yesterday.

Already plagued by the news their skipper Chris Gayle would not join the squad until 48 hours before the Test which bowls off Wednesday, West Indies' woes were increased when they suffered another batting capitulation in their second innings at the County Ground.

Trailing by 108 after England Lions extended their overnight 143 for six to 311 all out, the tourists collapsed meekly in their second innings for 179.

Back to the drawing board

Set a meagre 71 for victory, the Lions cruised to 72 without loss to send West Indies back to the drawing board just three days before the start of the Test series at Lord's.

Only rookie opener Lendl Simmons (64) and the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul (50) showed any fight, as the remainder of the batting struggled against England Lions' seam and spin attack.

Discarded medium pacer Liam Plunkett was the pick of the bowlers, cleaning up the tail to finish with four for 30, while troublesome seamer Chris Woakes (2-21) and leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-66) combined to wreck the Windies top and middle order.

Starting the day with the main aim of limiting England Lions, West Indies were undone by wicketkeeper/batsman Tim Ambrose, who slammed 117, and Rashid, who cracked 72.

The right-handed Ambrose, who featured briefly on England's recent tour of the Caribbean, stroked 20 fours and a six off 146 balls, in two hours and 38 minutes at the crease.

He shared an enterprising stand for the seventh wicket with Rashid, which yielded 152 and snuffed the life from the Windies attack.

When Ambrose fell just before lunch to a catch by Darren Sammy at cover off a leading edge from part-time medium pacer Simmons, Rashid further frustrated the West Indies by helping to post another 36 for the eighth wicket with Plunkett, who scored 17.

The 21-year-old Rashid, who toured the Caribbean with England but failed to get a single match, made the Windies pay for a missed chance by Chanderpaul at slip off seamer Jerome Taylor when 19, to continue to torment the tourists.

He struck 10 fours off 140 balls in a crucial innings that lasted 193 minutes before becoming one of fast bowler Nelon Pascal's three victims on the day.

Rookie takes four for 68

The 22-year-old rookie finished with four for 68 while Taylor claimed three for 54 and David Bernard two for 86.

Woakes, who snatched six wickets in the first innings, returned to haunt the Windies again, prising out Ramnaresh Sarwan (13) and Denesh Ramdin (4) cheaply to leave the tourists in strife at 29 for three.

Opener Devon Smith failed for the second time in the match when he played on to pacer Sajid Mahmood for one with the score on two in the innings' third over.

Sarwan again looked ominous and had stroked two fours in 13 from 15 balls when he was caught down the leg side by Ambrose off Woakes with the score on 21.

The 20-year-old Woakes completed an incisive spell when he had Ramdin caught at second slip by Ian Bell.

Back on course

Simmons and Chanderpaul then batted positively to add 87 for the fourth wicket and put the Windies innings temporarily back on course.

The right-handed Simmons struck seven fours and a six off 89 balls in an innings that spanned nearly two hours, while Chanderpaul's 50 came from 68 balls and contained five fours.

When Rashid trapped Simmons lbw at 116 for four, the Windies found temporary respite in a 38-run, fifth-wicket stand between Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash, who scored 19.

West Indies 1st Innings 203

England Lions 1st Innings

(overnight 143 for six)

+T. Ambrose c Sammy b Simmons 117 A. Rashid c Bernard b Pascal 72 L. Plunkett c Sarwan b Pascal 17 C. Woakes not out 2 S. Mahmood lbw b Pascal 0 Extras: (b17, lb11, w1, nb13) 42 TOTAL: (all out, 72.5 overs) 311

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-9, 3-13, 4-57, 5-78, 6-117, 7-269, 8-305, 9-311, 10-311.

Bowling: Taylor 17-2-54-3 (nb4), Pascal 15.5-1-68-4 (nb2, w1), Bernard 21-1-86-2 (nb5), Sammy 7-1-26-0, Benn 10-1-39-0 (nb1), Simmons 2-0-10-1.

West Indies 2nd Innings

D. Smith b Mahmood 1 L. Simmons lbw b Rashid 63 R. Sarwan c wk Ambrose b Woakes 13 *+D. Ramdin c Bell b Woakes 4 S. Chanderpaul lbw b Rashid 50 B. Nash c Bell b Rashid 19 D. Bernard not out 10 D. Sammy c Woakes b Plunkett 4 J. Taylor b Plunkett 5 S. Benn c Trott b Plunkett 0 N. Pascal b Plunkett 1 Extras: (b4, lb2, nb3) 9 Total: (all out, 45.1 overs) 179

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-21, 3-29, 4-116, 5-154, 6-157, 7-170, 8-176, 9-177, 10-179.

Bowling: Mahmood 8-0-32-1 (nb1), Woakes 6-1-21-2, Wright 6-2-24-0, Rashid 15-1-66-3, Plunkett 10.1-0-30-4 (nb2)

England Lions 2nd Innings

S. Moore not out 30 *R. Key not out 33 Extras: (b8, w1) 9

Total: (without loss, 9.5 overs) 72

Bowling: Taylor 3-0-14-0, Pascal 3-0-17-0, Simmons 2-0-18-0 Sammy 1.5-0-15-0 (w1).

Result: England Lions won by 10 wickets.

Toss: England.

Umpires: N. Mallender, P. Willey.