Paul Collingwood led from the front in his maiden appearance as one-day captain but could not prevent England slipping to a 15-run defeat to West Indies in the opening Twenty20 international last night.

The Durham all-rounder's side seemed set for a convincing defeat at The Oval after slipping to 101 for six in the 13th over chasing the tourists' formidable total of 208 for eight.

But Collingwood demonstrated the positive intent he wants his side to show as he hit a stunning 80 off only 41 balls including five fours and four sixes to take the momentum away from West Indies.

Needing 15 an over off the final two overs - a rate matched in the previous three overs - England fell short after youngster Ravi Rampaul conceded just seven off the penultimate over.

It left England needing a near-impossible 23 off the final over and by the time Collingwood was run out off the penultimate ball - having added 91 off only 7.3 overs with Michael Yardy - the outcome was settled.

His refusal to concede defeat, which earned him the man-of-the-match award, was exactly the fillip England needed after their top order was blown away by West Indies' accurate bowling.

Alastair Cook began the slide by top-edging an attempted pull to backward point in the fifth over and Matt Prior - who hit an impressive 25 off 14 balls as opener - was deceived by Dwayne Smith's slower ball and was caught in the deep later in the same over.

Those two early wickets were just the start of England's decline, however, with four more wickets falling in a five-over spell including a worrying run out of Hampshire's Kevin Pietersen, the world's top ranked one-day batsman.

Turning for a three, Pietersen misjudged the throw from the deep by Dwayne Smith and tripped over his right ankle as he made a desperate dive for the crease and remained on the floor for several minutes after he was given out.

Pietersen finally walked off towards the bench perhaps suffering more from hurt pride than anything else.

Mascarenhas followed soon after for just two scored off four balls.

But Collingwood led by example and took England to within sight of a famous victory, taking the match to an unexpectedly tight finish.

The capacity crowd had earlier been treated to a stunning display of strokeplay by the West Indies, who recorded the fourth-highest total in the limited history of Twenty20 internationals.

Deciding to bat first on a good surface after winning the toss, West Indies' traditional flair for attacking strokeplay came to the fore in only their second international in this form of cricket.

Having struggled to maintain their disciplines during the recent Test series defeat against England, the format of Twenty20 cricket seems almost tailor-made for Caribbean cricket and they hammered 21 fours and eight sixes during their innings.

Handicapped by the loss of captain Chris Gayle - one of their most fluent hitters - in only the second over when he got a bottom edge onto his stumps facing James Anderson, West Indies batted like Twenty20 veterans.

Opener Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul laid the foundations for their competitive total with a stunning 84-run stand and were then propelled beyond 200 with a 59-run partnership off only four overs late on between Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin.

Smith set the tone by hitting 22 off the first five balls he faced - four fours and a six - while Chanderpaul improvised superbly, including claiming successive boundaries by flicking Anderson from outside off stump down to fine leg for four.

Exploiting England's habit of bowling too short, Chanderpaul raced to 41 off only 27 balls before becoming a notable first international wicket for Hampshire debutant Dimitri Mascarenhas when he was superbly caught by Cook.

Smith followed two overs later - but only after hammering seven fours and three sixes in his 61 off only 34 balls - after also being caught in the deep off Mascarenhas to earn the Hampshire all-rounder respectable figures of two for 39.

England - who had surprisingly omitted star left-arm spinner Monty Panesar - fought back impressively after West Indies reached 115 for two in the 13th over, but the clean hitting of Samuels ensured the tourists had more than a competitive total.

Samuels raced to 51 off only 26 balls, including an incredibly big six off Ryan Sidebottom which flew out of the ground, but just as West Indies had their sights set on Australia's record total of 221 for five - also recorded against England - they lost their momentum.

Mascarenhas took a good catch in the deep off Sidebottom to remove Samuels with 10 balls remaining - he had caught Danesh Ramdin in the previous over off the bowling of Stuart Broad - and West Indies were only able to add a further nine runs.

When Collingwood embarked on his onslaught in the second half of England's reply, it looked like a costly error by the tourists but they hung on to claim their first major victory of a long tour.