Flintoff & Giles set up another win

England vs India
Nat West Challenge 2004 - 2nd Match


England 307 for 5 (Flintoff 99, Collingwood 79*, Solanki 48, Harbhajan 2 for 14)
India 237 (Kaif 51, Gough 4 for 50, Giles 3 for 26)


England won the second match of their series of three against India to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. More importantly, they managed to win after batting first - something they had not managed since early 2003 - after Ganguly had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. Their imposing total of 307 for 5 owed much to a partnership of 174 between Flintoff and Collingwood. In reply, India fell 70 runs short after being dismissed for 237.


Ganguly's decision to insert England was not surprising, as the sides batting second have won most of the one-day internationals in England this year. However, Pathan and Balaji failed to make the most of any early morning juice in the wicket. A succession of wides gave England a good start, and thereafter Trescothick and Solanki were able to take advantage of some sloppy bowling. Solanki was especially impressive, and played a succession of well-timed drives. Trescothick was his usual self against an attack that was almost made for him. They were so dominant that Ganguly had to bring on his spinners as early as the eleventh over. With the fielding restrictions still in place, this was a brave move, but it immediately paid dividends when Trescothick fell to Harbhajan, caught by Dravid for 27. Now England struggled, and none of their batsmen managed to score freely against Harbhajan and Sehwag. Vaughan (again) and Strauss came and went cheaply, and, when Solanki fell for 48, four wickets had fallen for 34 and the innings was in real danger of collapsing in an all too familiar heap. Their inability to score quickly against spin was almost embarrassing, and will surely have been noted by Sri Lanka who, even without Murali, possess players who can take advantage of this weakness. That being said, Harbhajan was quite superb, and his final figures of 2 for 14 didn't flatter him in the least.


At 105 for 4, England's hopes rested with Flintoff and Collingwood, which was not an encouraging situation. Flintoff, for all his success this year, has rarely excelled against quality spin and Collingwood has had a wretched season against pretty much everybody. Some of us have criticised Flintoff for giving his wicket away in the past, but today he played with great intelligence. Rather than immediately chance his arm, he recognised that the odds didn't suit attacking Harbhajan and so he simply saw him off. Although scoring was slow for a dozen overs or so, the quick start provided by the openers meant that the overall rate didn't fall alarmingly and, after the Turbanator had finished his spell, Flintoff was able to cash in. He absolutely murdered the rest of the attack and eventually fell, selflessly, for 99 from only 93 balls when attempting to launch Agarkar out of the ground instead of just pushing the single that was there for the taking. This was a quite magnificent innings, which showed once again how he has matured over the past year or so. All the while, he had been ably supported by Collingwood who played one of his best knocks for England. He was, unsurprisingly, outscored by Flintoff, by he still kept the board ticking over and rarely looked like giving his wicket away. He finished unbeaten on 79 - a quite vital innings for his side, and one which can only boost his confidence after a difficult summer.


England will have been delighted to set a target of 308, but they will also have remembered India successfully chasing a slightly higher total at Lord's a couple of years ago. Today, they made a dreadful start. Sehwag immediately fell to Gough, leg before in the first over of the innings. Shortly afterwards, Ganguly and Laxman collided when going for a quick single and Flintoff's direct hit left the Indian captain well out of his ground. This wicket brought Kaif to the wicket and, after taking a brief look at the bowlers, this brilliant youngster set about them with relish. Harmison disappeared for three consecutive boundaries and was replaced by Wharf, whose first over went for 13. Just has his counterpart had done, Vaughan was obliged to turn to spin before the 15 overs were up. Giles, of course, has had a tremendous summer, but today he was up against players who are known to play spin pretty well. Any fears that he would be unable to contain Kaif proved unfounded, as the King of Spin immediately applied the brakes. With Flintoff also providing a measure of control at the other end, the required rate began to creep up towards seven an over and Laxman perished, tamely clipping Giles to Collingwood in the covers. Wharf returned to claim Dravid, caught behind playing back to one that left him and then Giles had Kaif caught round the corner by Vaughan for 51. India had subsided to 113 for 5, and England were well in control.


The presence of Yuvraj, with Kaif a hero of the successful run-chase two years ago, maintained a modicum of hope for the visitors. At the other end, the arrival of Gavaskar had one or two older spectators wondering if he would emulate his father's spectacular blocking during a world cup game 30 years ago (36* from 60 overs remains one of the more perverse one-day innings). Instead, Gavaskar was bowled by Giles, who finished with excellent figures of 3 for 26, and Gough returned to have Yuvraj caught by Vaughan at mid-wicket. Gough then claimed Agarkar and Pathan in quick succession to almost bring an end to proceedings. Harbhajan and Balaji provided an unexpected twist with a record last wicket partnership for India in one-day internationals, but by now the result was never in doubt and Flintoff eventually ended their resistance and was promptly named Man Of the Match for his efforts.





Posted by David