England have got off to a somewhat shaky start in their final game of the group stages in the Cricket World Cup.

England will need a good result against the West Indies today if they are to have any hope of making it to the group stages, but even a victory would see the team dependent on the results of other games yet to be played.

The West Indies lost the toss and England captain Andrew Strauss elected to bat, together with fellow opener Matt Prior.

It was Prior who first got off the mark with a good clean drive through cover for four.

Strauss was not averse to scoring runs either and the pair forged the beginnings of a healthy partnership, scoring 48 runs together before Prior was bulled out by Andre Russell for 21.

Jonathan Trott came on for England and immediately made his presence felt with three fours in the same over that saw Prior walking back to the pavilion.

Trott continued chalking up the runs however Strauss went and lost his wicket after he hit a short ball from Russell into the hands of Chris Gayle. He was gone for 30 and England were on 79/2 with 12 of the 50 overs played.

Strauss was replaced by Ian Bell who made a slow but steady start and narrowly avoided being caught out when he was dropped by Devon Thomas.

The West Indies's bowlers were soon to strike however, with Devendra Bishoo dismissing Trott for 47 after the South African born batsman knocked the ball to a waiting Gayle. England were down to 121/3.

Bell was dismissed soon after, following a dull but steady innings that gave England another 27 runs. He was bowled out by Kemar Roach.

Eoin Morgan, who replaced Trott, failed to perform, scoring only seven runs before he gloved a ball from Bishoo to Thomas. Ravi Bopara put in a similarly poor performance, being bowled out for four by Russell, taking England to 151/6.

Luke Wright and James Tredwell found themselves together at the crease with the pressure on to save their team from a disastrous innings. Tredwell proved to be rather ill-fated, being dismissed for nine thanks to a confusing run-out.

Wright did rather better and helped build England's total, adding 44 to the total before he hit a ball from Bishoo to Russell at deep midwicket, putting England at 216/8.

This left Graeme Swann at the crease with Tim Bresnan. Bresnan put in a few big hits, but he was soon abandoned by Swann who was bowled out by Russell after scoring a mere eight runs.

Bresnan was the last man standing with 20 runs when England's final batsman, Chris Tremlett gloved a ball from Roach to Thomas after scoring only three runs.

England's final innings total was 243 all out after 48.4 of the 50 overs. The score is dangerously low and a superb performance from England's bowlers will be needed in order to take the team through to the next stage of the tournament.