India break up on the English Wharf

Steve Harmison became the second Englishman to take an ODI hat trick, and debutant Alex Wharf struck in each of his first three overs as a consummate English performance easily saw off India at Trent Bridge in the first match of the NatWest Challenge.

England captain Michael Vaughan paid a close eye to history in his decision to insert the Indians having won the toss - England having won all the completed ODIs in which they had chased since the World Cup, and losing all those where they had set a target. It wasn't long before the move paid off, either, as Virender Sehwag attempted to flick Darren Gough through the leg side, only to find a leading edge that skied to Michael Vaughan at mid on.

It was left to Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to rebuild for the Indians as both Gough and Harmison found movement early on, both in the air and off the pitch, and beat the batsmans' outside edges on several occasions before the Indian skipper lifted the tempo with a brace of boundaries, cutting and driving Harmison through the offside. This led to the introduction of Glamorgan all-rounder Alex Wharf into the attack for the first time, and it only took five legal deliveries before Ganguly was enticed into a pull shot to a ball that rose onto him from back of a length, and came down again directly into the gloves of Geraint Jones.

India had threatened to run away with it as their combination of elegant strokeplay and risk taking paid off... until the same combination of Wharf and Jones struck to send Laxman back into the pavilion in the Glamorgan man's very next over as a perfectly pitched-up outswinger enticed an outside edge and a regulation catch. Rahul Dravid struck three glorious boundaries as India maintained their rapid scoring rate, only for Wharf to strike for a third time in as many overs when the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman top-edged an uncharacteristically impetuous hook shot into the arms of Darren Gough, running around at fine leg.

With India in trouble, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif combined to contrive a run-out as the two batsmen attempted a third run as Ashley Giles chased to the midwicket boundary, only for the left-arm spinner to arrow in a throw straight into the hands of Geraint Jones, who caught Yuvraj out of his ground, and it was five down.

Rohan Gavaskar and Kaif then commenced a re-building job as the two, constrained by a superbly economical spell of spin bowling from Giles, were unable to add a single boundary in between the 22nd and 40th overs, when Kaif pulled Wharf to the square leg fence. In the meantime, however, two further wickets had gone down. Gavaskar's fell first, to a trademark Paul Collingwood one-handed diving catch at backward point off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff before Irfan Pathan, who was hardly able to get the Warwickshire twirler off the square during his tortured 14-ball stay that yielded just three runs, fittingly clubbed the ball straight back to Giles.

Number nine batsman Anil Kumble succeeded in sticking around alongside Kaif to allow the Kanpur-born right hander to reach a disciplined fifty with a deflected fend behind square off the returning Harmison, before driving at a pitched-up outswinger from the Durham seamer and edging to Jones behind the stumps. Next man in, Lakshmipathy Balaji, only managed to deflect his first ball, a lifter, to the ever-dependable Flintoff at second slip - although replays showed that the ball may have taken armguard rather than glove - before number eleven Ashish Nehra prodded back one of the simplest return catches of the Ashington-born paceman's life to complete the hat-trick - the previous England bowler being James Anderson in last summer's NatWest Challenge against Pakistan.

Thus, England were set 171 to win from their fifty overs, and Marcus Trescothick and the returning Vikram Solanki commenced their reply without much difficulty against an Indian attack - barring Balaji - that seemingly delighted in serving up long-hops and, in particular, half volleys that Trescothick despatched to the square leg boundary. At the other end, Solanki was mixing glorious drives with injudicious pull shots that always kept Rohan Gavaskar at square leg interested.

Trescothick was first to fall, slicing a square drive off Balaji to Yuvraj Singh at backward point, who held on well as he tumbled to his left. Michael Vaughan's demotion to number three brought no improvement in his poor ODI form as Balaji found just enough movement off a good length to beat the batsman's drive and clip the top of the off bail. This was as good as it got for the visitors, however, as Andrew Strauss joined Solanki and the the Middlesex skipper quietly accumulated before the introuction of Anil Kumble saw England up a gear, Solanki striking the most impressive of the boundaries, a lofted straight drive that bounced just once on its journey into the Radcliffe Road Stand.

Solanki perished to a well-bowled inswinger from Pathan that trapped the Worcestershire man palbably LBW - like Kaif, the ball after he reached his fifty. This breakthrough only brought Andrew Flintoff to the wicket, and he bludgeoned three sixes off Pathan and Kumble in his 23-ball 34*, including a massive blow off the leg-spinner that brought the match to its conclusion with more than 17 overs to spare as it travelled high into the Fox Road stand.

One-nil up with two to play, a bowling attack firing once more and a team that's back in balance and free of the bits-and-pieces curses that beset it during June's NatWest Series. Is this a sign that England have finally got the ODI setup right, another indication that England can chase yet not set targets, or another false dawn?

Either way, what a difference a day makes.

India 170
M Kaif 50
A Wharf 3-30, SJ Harmison 3-41
England 171-3
VS Solanki 52, A Strauss 41*
L Balaji 2-37

England win by 7 wickets

CricketWeb Player of the Match: Alex Wharf

Posted by Neil