ANDREW Strauss is still refusing to get carried away with England’s apparently irresistible form, after their six-wicket victory over West Indies at Bristol.

The England captain was a commanding figure on a day when every decision he made seemed to pay off – starting by putting the Windies in first, and immediately seeing Stuart Broad (four for 46) reduce them to seven for two.

The Windies never seriously modified their attacking style – but never got going either on their way to 160 all out – and England had no trouble knocking off the runs with 14 overs to spare under gloriously sunny skies.

Another win at Edgbaston tomorrow would complete England’s preparations for the remainder of a huge summer, including next month’s World Twenty20.

Strauss will not be around for that. But his replacement Paul Collingwood can hardly hope to have a more magical touch than Strauss displayed yesterday, with a series of bowling changes which all seemed to pay off almost instantly.

‘‘I’m delighted with the way we played. We put them under pressure from ball one, kept the pressure up then knocked off the 160 with a fair amount of ease,’’ said Strauss.

‘‘There’s a really good feeling in the camp, and each time you win there’s more depth to that feeling.’’ Strauss appears terminally wary of complacency.

‘‘We’re not getting carried away with ourselves by any means, because we still know there’s a lot of work to do,’’ he said.

Strauss could not hide a justified smile of satisfaction, however, when asked to reflect on his first bowling change of the day, which saw his opposite number Chris Gayle smash off-spinner Graeme Swann for six first ball, before being bowled by the next delivery.

‘‘We brought Swanny on when the two left-handers were looking pretty ominous, especially Chris Gayle,’’ he recalled.

‘‘It was a bit of a risk bringing the spinner on early. But it was good to get the opposition team thinking, and it obviously worked.’’ Collingwood also had a day to remember, adding an unbeaten 47 to his three for 16 with the ball.

England’s action man was keeping wicket, as substitute for an injured Matt Prior, in a Test match last week – and his all-round skills were evident again.

‘‘The wicketkeeping’s got to go to bed, because the hands are too sore. So it’s back to bowling,’’ he said.

‘‘I managed to nip a few around, get a few through the gate, then get a few runs. So I’m feeling confident at the moment.’’ While England could reflect en masse on another confidence- boosting win, there was an equal and opposite feeling for the Windies.

Gayle is not yet giving up hope, but admits things need to change, quickly.

‘‘All is not lost. We can still actually square the series,’’ he vowed.

‘‘But we didn’t analyse the situation properly. The batting display was disappointing.”