ENGLAND have tried out a variety of solutions to their wicketkeeping dilemma in recent years, but few would have expected them to finish day four of the second Test at Riverside with Durham allrounder Paul Collingwood behind the stumps.

Collingwood has done just about everything in his England career – batted, bowled and taken catches at both cover point and in the slips – but never before had he taken his all-rounder tag to its logical limits by taking over the wicketkeeping gloves.

He did that just that yesterday, though, after regular glovesman Matt Prior was whisked away to hospital having injured his finger, and filled in successfully as the West Indies finished the day on 115-3 after following on shortly after tea.

Provided the weather remains fine, England will be confident of wrapping up a 2-0 series whitewash later today.

Collingwood’s appearance behind the stumps drew a series of giggles from another sparse Riverside crowd yesterday, but to the watching England hierarchy, Prior’s problem was briefly no laughing matter.

The wicketkeeper damaged the ring finger on his right hand, a part of his body that was already heavily strapped and that is absolutely essential to his art. However, a scan revealed no fracture, and he is likely to resume his regular duties today.

Given the problems suffered on the international stage by the likes of James Foster, Geraint Jones, Paul Nixon and Tim Ambrose recently, it is just as well. Had Prior broken his finger, Collingwood might just have been the best alternative.

He made a decent fist of things yesterday, keeping wicket for 25 blemish-free overs and coming close to claiming his first victim from behind the stumps.

Twice he went up celebrating after Chris Gayle appeared to edge James Anderson; twice the umpire remained unmoved. Both decisions were debatable, particularly the first that appeared to involve Gayle feathering an inside edge.

Predictably, the West Indian skipper made the most of his let off by unleashing a panoply of aggressive strokes.

He thrashed 54 runs off 43 balls with two towering sixes thrown in for good measure, but perished when he edged Graham Onions to Andrew Strauss at first slip.

That was Onions’ second wicket in the space of three balls, as the Durham seamer had previously trapped Ramnaresh Sarwan leg before with a delivery that stayed low.

With Graeme Swann having also removed opener Devon Smith courtesy of an lbw decision, the tourists were reeling at 89-3 at that stage, and while they added a further 26 runs before bad light stopped play, they remain 144 runs in arrears of England's mammoth first-innings total.

England's score effectively secured the Wisden Trophy and, Collingwood aside, much else that was of interest in yesterday’s play involved the identity of the bowling attack for this summer’s Ashes.

Despite the limitations of the tourists’ batting line up, the day ended with as many questions as answers.

Anderson and Stuart Broad are guaranteed a place in the opening Ashes Test at Cardiff, and the pair did enough to confirm their status as England’s leading pace bowlers.

Broad was especially impressive, claiming three wickets in three spells of patient first-innings probing that extracted more bounce and movement from a docile wicket than the efforts of any of his fellow bowlers.

Tellingly, the 22-year-old accounted for both of the West Indies’ overnight batsmen before lunch as England threatened to enforce the follow on in double quick time.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the first to depart, having added 20 to the overnight three he compiled patiently on Saturday evening.

Chanderpaul, whose return to Durham could now be further delayed because of a West Indian Test series against Bangladesh, nibbled at a slight away swinger to give Prior his only catch of the match.

Sarwan brought up his 15th Test century shortly after, but the leading Test run scorer in 2009 failed to add to his round hundred before Broad summoned some extra pace that led to an ugly fend that was pouched by Tim Bresnan in the gully.

Broad then returned towards the end of the innings to lure Fidel Edwards into a toeended effort that flew to Strauss at first slip.

That left the tourists on 310-9, and the follow on was enforced after Anderson, who had previously seen Brendan Nash play into his own stumps, ended Denesh Ramdin’s stout resistance by inducing an edge to second slip.

Anderson’s sixth fivewicket Test haul was a fitting reward for his efforts, particularly on Saturday evening when he raced through the top of the West Indian order.

Broad aside though, England’s other bowlers would not have been feeling as content as they left the field at the change of innings.

Onions claimed his first Test wicket at Riverside in the afternoon session – Jerome Taylor playing around a straight one to be trapped leg before – but after the heroics of his debut at Lord’s, this was a more workmanlike effort despite the two second-innings wickets that arrived late on.

Nevertheless, the Gateshead seamer has surely done enough to cement his position in the Cardiff Test attack.

The same cannot be said of Yorkshireman Bresnan, who has now gone three complete innings without claiming his maiden Test wicket.

He came close yesterday, as either Prior or Strauss should have caught the Sulieman Benn edge that flew between them, but the abiding memory of his efforts was the sight of the ball being flayed to the boundary.

If Andrew Flintoff is fit for the start of the Ashes, Bresnan will surely be the player that makes way.

Swann’s performance in the first Test has probably booked his spot ahead of Monty Panesar, but his first-innings efforts yesterday, at a cost of 51 runs off 14 overs, were hardly stellar either.

Swann has shown he is a wicket-taking threat on a pitch that is conducive to spin, but he is yet to prove he has mastered the art of containment on a strip as unresponsive as the one that has been prepared at Riverside this week.

Scoreboard

England v West Indies At Riverside

Overnight: England 302-2 (A N Cook 126 no, R S Bopara 108).

land First Innings

J M Anderson b Edwards ..................14

(diverted ball into stumps off pad, 39bs, 3 fours)

K P Pietersen c Simmons b Benn ......49 (edged attempted drive to point, 57bs, 9 fours)

P D Collingwood not out ...................60 (85bs, 4 fours)

M J Prior c Benn b Simmons .............63 (clubbed drive straight to mid-on, 83bs 7 fours)

S C Broad not out ..............................28 (25bs, 2 fours, 1 six)

Extras (b20 lb5 w8 nb28 pens 0) 61

Total 6 wkts dec (147 overs). .569

Fall: 1-69 2-282 3-326 4-410 5-419 6-513 Did Not Bat: T T Bresnan, G P Swann, G Onions.

Bowling: Taylor 20-2-68-0. Edwards 25-1- 113-1. Baker 30-3-119-1. Gayle 14-2-31-1. Benn 43-8-146-2. Simmons 14-0-60-1. Sarwan 1-0-7-0.

t Indies First Innings

D S Smith b Anderson ....................... 7 (bowled through gate by inswinger, 14bs, 1 four)

C H Gayle lbw b Anderson .................19 (missed one that looked high, 24bs, 4 fours)

R R Sarwan c Bresnan b Broad........100 (fended quicker delivery to gully, 138bs, 14 fours)

L M Simmons c Strauss b Anderson . 8 (edged to first slip, 18bs, 2 fours)

S Chanderpaul c Prior b Broad ..........23 (nibbled at slight away swinger, 103bs, 2 fours)

B P Nash b Anderson ........................10 (played into his own stumps, 52bs, 1 four) D Ramdin c Swann b Anderson .........55 (edged to second slip, 82bs, 7 fours, 1 six)

J E Taylor lbw b Onions ......................10

(beaten for pace by straight one, 11bs, 2 fours)

S J Benn run out ................................35 (direct hit from Pietersen at long on, 48bs, 6 fours, 1 six)

F H Edwards c Strauss b Broad .........11 (toe-ended catch to first slip, 16bs, 2 fours)

L S Baker not out ...................... 0 (4bs)

Extras (b2 lb21 w2 nb7 pens 0) ..32

Total (84.3 overs) ...................310

Fall: 1-18 2-38 3-68 4-167 5-188 6-205 7-216 8-286 9-310

Bowling: Anderson 26.3-5-87-5. Broad 16- 2-62-3. Onions 18-6-52-1. Bresnan 10-2-35- 0. Swann 14-4-51-0.

West Indies Second Innings Close

D S Smith lbw b Swann ......................11 (missed attempted clip to leg, 41bs, 1 four)

C H Gayle c Strauss b Onions ...........54 (edged to first slip, 43bs, 6 fours, 2 sixes)

R R Sarwan lbw b Onions ..................22 (trapped by one that stayed low, 21bs, 4 fours)

L M Simmons not out ........................ 3

(14bs) S Chanderpaul not out ......................18

(13bs, 3 fours) Extras (b4 lb1 w2 pens 0)............ 7

Total 3 wkts (22 overs)...........115

Fall: 1-53 2-88 3-89

To Bat: B P Nash, D Ramdin, S J Benn, J E Taylor, F H Edwards, L S Baker.

Bowling: Anderson 5-2-20-0. Broad 5-1-21- 0. Swann 3-0-13-1. Onions 6-0-46-2. Bresnan 3-0-10-0.