NatWest: Eng vs SA

England have gained a confidence-boosting victory against South Africa ahead of the final at Lords on Sunday thanks to a career-best innings from captain Michael Vaughan.

Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat on a decent looking wicket at Edgbaston. South Africa excluded Charl Langeveldt in favour of the aggressive Andre Nel.

England, meanwhile, had included an out-of-form Ashley Giles for Steve Harmison, who was down with a back spasm before the match.

The Proteas began in flowering fashion, with Graeme Smith taking a mammoth 19 off the first over of the innings from James Anderson, and another 5 being taken off Anderson's next.

Darren Gough, so often England's Mr. Reliable snared the first wicket of Herschelle Gibbs when Surrey youngster Rikki Clarke pouched the catch with the batsman on 2.

Smith continued to blast away at the attack, however following some tight Gough and Richard Johnson bowling after Anderson's removal, the scoring rate slowed significantly.

Smith became Andy Flintoff's only victim with the ball after his blistering 39-ball 45 ended when he was caught by Anthony McGrath.

Flintoff however claimed the catch of the summer to hand England the next wicket, a one-handed reflex effort to dismiss the in-form Jacques Kallis for 15 and swing the pendulum towards England.

When Johnson trapped Andrew Hall LBW, South Africa had slumped to 74/4.

Reliable middle-order pair Mark Boucher and Jacques Rudolph then set about a rescue mission, however it yielded just 25 runs before Boucher was brilliantly caught by Marcus Trescothick off Anderson for 13.

Rudolph then fell, hammering Anderson to the safe hands of McGrath at short cover, making 16 and leaving South Africa at 104/6.

Three deliveries later, Shaun Pollock was caught by Flintoff to hand Anderson his third wicket, Flintoff his second catch and Pollock a duck.

Martin van Jaarsveld and Paul Adams then set about building a record 8th wicket stand for South Africa against England of 71 the re-build the floundering innings.

While he is 29 years old, van Jaarsveld is an inexperienced international cricketer and his innings showed that he has both the talent and temperament to succeed at the highest level. He was dismissed LBW to McGrath after making a solid 45.

Andre Nel then made just 1, caught at slip by Flintoff as South Africa reached 198 from their 50 overs.

Paul Adams made a career-best 33, while Makhaya Ntini was unbeaten on 10 at the close of the innings.

For England, Anderson recovered brilliantly from his first 2 overs to finish with 4/38 from 10. Richard Johnson took 2/34, Anthony McGrath 1/15, Darren Gough 1/39 and Andy Flintoff 1/47. Ashley Giles finished with 0/29 from his 10 overs and finally chose to bowl around the wicket to the delight of the fans and experts.

In reply, England slumped to 2/11, losing both Marcus Trescothick (8) and Vikram Solanki (2) early to Pollock and Ntini.

England's troubles continued when Anthony McGrath fell for 11 to Jacques Kallis to leave the hosts at 3/30 and in danger of being defeated chasing a middle-of-the-road total.

Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, however, added 100 for the next wicket to stabilise the innings.

Flintoff clubbed 54 from 40 balls before he was caught by spinner Paul Adams off Ntini to leave England at 130/4.

Rikki Clarke then joined his skipper at the crease as the pair batted England within sight of victory.

Vaughan's innings came to an end within 5 runs of victory when he padded up to Andrew Hall and was dismissed LBW after making 83.

The captain throughout the course of the innings showed he was capable of making the adjustments to his game to succeed at the ODI level, and excellent development from England.

Youngster Clarke then fell when the score was on 198, equal to the visitors, when Adams trapped him in front after he made a career-high 37.

For South Africa, Makhaya Ntini took 2/30 from 6 overs. Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Hall and Paul Adams took a wicket each.

Scores:

South Africa 198/9 (M van Jaarsveld 45, G Smith 45, J Anderson 4/38)

England 199/6 (M Vaughan 83, A Flintoff 54, M Ntini 2/30)

England won by 4 wickets.

Cricket Web Player-of-the-Match: Michael Vaughan.

Points: England 6.

Posted by Andre