England

Yet England, off color so far in this tournament, dazzled at Twickenham to not only retain their Six Nations title but equal the world record of 18 consecutive Test victories for a Tier One side, set by New Zealand last year.

After a steady start, Morgan went through to his 10th ODI ton as England accelerated late in the innings to post 296-6 from their 50 overs, Sam Billings (52) and Ben Stokes (55) also making half-centuries.

Fifties from Jason Mohammed (72) and Jonathan Carter (52) gave the hosts hope in reply but, ultimately, they came up short, Chris Woakes (4-47) and Liam Plunkett (4-40) each taking four wickets as the West Indies were bowled out for 251.

Speaking at a media opportunity in Manchester, Bennett also shouldered responsibility for a controversial training camp in Dubai last month being cancelled, saying he did not communicate properly with Super League clubs.

He also said he would not extend his contract with the Rugby Football League before the World Cup, to be held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in October, November and December.

Vunipola has been out since December with a knee injury and had been expected to return for the Twickenham clash on February 26.

That now appears unlikely, although he could feature for Saracens when they take on Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership on Friday as he looks to prove his fitness.

Northampton prop Paul Hill has therefore been retained but Wasps' Matt Mullan has been left out.

Kruis, who had only been given the all-clear to face France last week after recovering from a fractured cheekbone, was forced to miss training on Tuesday with the knee injury.

The Saracens lock will see a specialist on Thursday to determine further management of the injury and head coach Eddie Jones is not giving up hope he will be available later in the tournament.

"We'll have to wait and see what the specialist's prognosis is, but we're not ruling him out of the Six Nations at this stage," said Jones.

Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal finished with a staggering six wickets for 25 runs as England, chasing 203 to win, collapsed from 119-2 to 127 all out.

On a brilliant batting surface, Suresh Raina (63 off 45 balls) and MS Dhoni (56 off 36) earlier struck blistering fifties for India, the latter's first in his 76 T20Is.

England were well placed after 12 overs of their reply, but then Eoin Morgan (40 off 21) and Joe Root (42 off 37) fell to consecutive Chahal deliveries to trigger the dramatic collapse - eight wickets falling for eight runs in 19 deliveries.

The tournament's organising committee will look at a proposal made by the Aviva Premiership which would remove the two weekends when fixtures are not played.

This year's competition runs from February 4 until March 18 but no games are scheduled for the weekends of February 18-19 and March 3-4.

A potential start time for the new format has yet to be discussed and any change would align with the beginning of the new global season in 2020.

Hartley was sent off for catching Leinster flanker Sean O'Brien with a swinging arm from behind in the Champions Cup and his subsequent six-week ban came to an end on Monday.

The hooker's position as captain had been questioned after his dismissal - he has now accumulated 60 weeks of suspensions during his career - and Hartley admits facing Jones after was far from easy.

England head coach Wayne Bennett was set to take 17 leading Super League players for a fortnight-long training camp in Dubai in early January.

However, former England boss Tony Smith was among a host of Super League club coaches to criticise the move.

He claimed it would disrupt their preparations for the start of the 2017 Betfred Super League season for little reward, and the RFL appears to have backed down.

The 25-year-old struck 88 in the tourists' 284-4 before falling to spinner Ravindra Jadeja - Moeen Ali leading the way thereafter with an unbeaten 120.

Root converted eight of his first 21 scores of fifty or more in Tests into centuries - that's 38 per cent - but only three of his last 17 (18 per cent), and told Sky Sports: "It's very frustrating.

"The amount of times this year when I've got into a good position and not been able to kick on - it's quite frustrating.