( CNN ) -- England kept their Cricket World Cup hopes alive after a dramatic 18-run victory over the West Indies . Needing to win to stay in the tournament , England failed to capitalize on a quick start to their innings , losing a clutch of wickets in the middle period to post a modest total of 243 . The West Indies got off to a fast start themselves and looked well set to clinch their place in the last eight at 222-6 before losing their last four wickets for three runs to hand England an astonishing triumph . England will be through to the quarterfinals if Group B leaders South Africa beat Bangladesh on Saturday or India beat the West Indies on Sunday . For the sixth time in the tournament England were involved in a match that twisted one way and then the other , the outcome unclear until right at the death . Batting first in Chennai , captain Andrew Strauss got England off to a bright start , hitting 31 , while Jonathan Trott looked in good touch before he was dismissed for 47 . But England slumped from 121-3 to 151-6 as Ian Bell , Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara all went in quick succession . They were grateful to Luke Wright , who hit 44 , and an unbeaten 20 from Tim Bresnan to set a competitive target . In reply Chris Gayle played in trademark fashion , smashing 43 runs off 21 balls and taking 18 off an over from Chris Tremlett before spinner James Tredwell made his mark on his first appearance in the tournament . He claimed the first three wickets as Gayle , Devon Smith and Dwayne Bravo were all removed . When Bopara then bowled captain Darren Sammy and Devon Thomas , England could scent victory . Explosive batsman Kieron Pollard fell for 24 but Ramnaresh Sarwan and Andre Russell steadied the ship for the West Indies before Trott thought he had caught Russell in the deep . But Trott 's catch was ruled out by the third umpire , who adjudged he had made contact with the boundary rope after taking the ball . Six runs were given instead . With the partnership between Sarwan and Russell reaching 72 , West Indies needed just 24 more runs to win before the game turned on its head . First Russell was trapped LBW by Tredwell before fellow spinner Graeme Swann then dismissed Sarwan and Kemar Roach in consecutive balls . And England 's thrilling victory was confirmed when a pinpoint throw from Trott allowed Matt Prior to run out Sulieman Benn . Swann told the England and Wales Cricket Board 's website : `` I thought 'It 's one of those nights ' . We have dug ourselves a hole and we are slowly stepping out of it . It was up there with the Ashes for raw emotion . '' Strauss added : `` We 've just been inconsistent , there 's no doubt about it . We have n't played as well as we would like in this tournament , but we have pulled out some results when we really needed them . `` Obviously we are still waiting on other results , but hopefully we have done enough to go through to the last eight . ''
England beat West Indies by 18 runs to keep West Indies hopes alive . West Indies fall short of the West Indies 's modest total of 18 . Spinner Ravi Bopara took 18 wickets as West Indies were bowled out for 225 . England need other results to go their way in order to make last eight .