West Indies have qualified for the NatWest Series one-day cricket final against NZ with a seven-wicket defeat of England at Lord's.

Chris Gayle's 132 not out in his 100th one-day international, his ninth century at this level, was the cornerstone of West Indies reply to England's 7-285 as they won with five balls to spare.

Ricardo Powell was 33 not out.

The result means West Indies will return to Lord's on Saturday to face New Zealand, who had already qualified, for the triangular event's climax.

Gayle's second-wicket partnership of 187 with Ramnaresh Sarwan took the game away from England and helped continue a trend which had seen every completed match in the tournament won by the side batting second.

Not even an England record stand of 226 between left-hander Andrew Strauss (100), his maiden one-day international hundred, and Andrew Flintoff (123), his second hundred in successive games, could prevent England ending a losing streak in matches at this level where they had batted first that stretched back to last year's World Cup in South Africa.

Thursday's final group match between New Zealand and the West Indies at the Hampshire Rose Bowl now becomes a dress rehearsal for the final.

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