If Kevin Pietersen was at the end of his tether and mentally ready to go home before the game, his colleagues must have felt the same way after this brutal defeat. Not even in the great days of Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Michael Holding have West Indies been able to roll over an England side in a one-day international with such little resistance.

England need to win both of the remaining games to reverse a 2-1 scoreline, but the manner of this loss must have a sapping effect. They were softened by a fiery, new-ball spell from Fidel Edwards, picked off by the medium pace of Dwayne Bravo and finally battered by an extraordinary assault from Chris Gayle.

The West Indies captain struck 80 from 43 balls, with eight sixes, and when the first wicket fell with the score on 98, Lendl Simmons, his fellow opener, had contributed only eight runs. Gayle played with a mix of force, ingenuity and confidence, but, most of all, supreme cool.

Whereas England batsmen hooked and pulled their way to self-destruction like lemmings going over a cliff, Gayle consistently cleared the boundary by huge distances. A straight drive against Dimitri Mascarenhas landed in the upper tier of the Worrell, Weekes & Walcott Stand, an uppercut against James Anderson soared over third man.

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Stuart Broad, overexcited by the bounce, bowled a first over that went for 17, twice propelling balls over the head of the wicketkeeper, while Mascarenhas was struck for three sixes by Gayle when he joined the attack in an over costing 24. By comparison, England’s batsmen have hit only one six in the series, but it was the failure to learn from each other’s mistakes that most troubled Andrew Strauss, the captain.

“It was pretty humiliating, embarrassing and not really a contest,” he said. “There was not enough thought about the batting and that happens too often. We played very badly. We have to remember that we are representing our country and we have an obligation to play better.”

Pietersen had told an interviewer that he felt drained by the impact of his forced resignation as captain two months ago and frustrated at continuing poor results. A third personal failure in a row will not help his sense of wellbeing, but he was hardly alone as England collapsed to 68 for eight on a pitch as spicy as the jerk chicken on sale.

Strauss, citing bounce rather than pace, was late on a shot against Edwards and Ravi Bopara appeared especially troubled by the slingy hostility of the fast bowler. Pietersen became a third unhappy hooker, to Bravo’s first ball. Strauss was clearly disappointed that Pietersen poured out his sorrows in public and suggested that his leading player, and the rest of the team, use frustration as a motivating force for the final week of the tour.

As a perfect foil to Edwards, Lionel Baker kept a tight grip on scoring and the medium-pace back-up maintained the stranglehold, with England in no position to take chances after early losses. Nonetheless, shot selection continued to be dire: Owais Shah and Matt Prior guided catches to backward point, while Andrew Flintoff’s return lasted six balls, at which point he pulled Bravo straight to long leg.

At least the ninth-wicket partnership of Mascarenhas and Gareth Batty took England beyond their worst one-day score against West Indies — 114, here in 1986. However, even with play beginning 90 minutes late because of rain, the game finished more than an hour ahead of schedule.

England supporters sat in a considerable minority, but a small section made themselves heard with boos and shouts of “rubbish” while Strauss was interviewed at the presentation ceremony. Stephen Harmison may come back into contention for the game here tomorrow if the pitch is similar, but there are few options for the batting. Meanwhile, the team will practice this morning in what appears to be a case of “naughty boy nets”.

England
*A J Strauss c Gayle b Edwards 2
R S Bopara c Sarwan b Edwards 10
K P Pietersen c Pollard b Bravo 3
O A Shah c Sammy b Baker 17
P D Collingwood lbw b Bravo 6
A Flintoff c Edwards b Bravo 0
†M J Prior c Sammy b Pollard 7
A D Mascarenhas c Bravo b Edwards 36
S C J Broad c Ramdin b Pollard 0
G J Batty c Sammy b Bravo 17
J M Anderson not out 0
Extras (b 8, lb 1, w 10) 19
Total (41.3 overs) 117

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-17, 3-41, 4-42, 5-43, 6-54, 7-68, 8-68, 9-116.

Bowling: Edwards 8.3-1-28-3; Baker 9-5-21-1; Bravo 7-1-19-4; Sammy 9-2-19-0; Pollard 6-0-16-2; Miller 2-0-5-0.

West Indies
*C H Gayle b Anderson 80
L M P Simmons not out 14
R R Sarwan b Broad 10
S Chanderpaul not out 3
Extras (b 4, nb 6) 10
Total (2 wkts, 14.4 overs) 117

K A Pollard, D J Bravo, †D Ramdin, D J G Sammy, N O Miller, L S Baker and F H Edwards did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-114.

Bowling: Broad 3.4-1-31-1; Anderson 5-0-39-1; Flintoff 5-0-19-0; Mascarenhas 1-0-24-0.

Umpires: S A Bucknor and S J Davis (Australia).

Matches to come: Fourth one-day international tomorrow (in Barbados). Fifth one-day international Friday (in St Lucia).