England claim series at Lords

England beat India easily in the Seventh ODI at Lord’s, cruising to a series-clinching win in the 37th over by 7 wickets after bowling India out for 187 inside 48. India never got going and lost wickets regularly through a combination of wicket-taking deliveries, run-rate pressure and questionable Umpiring decisions. After losing 2 early wickets England had no such problems as Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood played strong hands to ensure a 4-3 scoreline and a won 5, lost 5 record for the summer.

Andrew Flintoff had returned to the England side and his presence was felt before he even got hold of the ball. Alastair Cook was dropped, perhaps a little surprisingly, while India replaced Ajit Agarkar with Rudra Pratap Singh once again. Dravid won the toss and – to the surprise of some – elected to bat. James Anderson was given the first over (Stuart Broad has taken it on all 5 other occasions the two have opened together this series) and his first ball was banged in halfway down. Sourav Ganguly took his eye off it and was very fortunate to see the ball loop just out of Matthew Prior’s reach. He had three further moments of similar fortune, two from each opening bowler, in between which he played several crunching strokes.

Off the first ball of the 7th over, however, his luck finally ran-out, as he fished at a good delivery from Anderson which moved away slightly, took the edge and flew into Flintoff’s bucket hands at third slip. Gautam Gambhir, sent out at three once again after a reasonable but never totally convincing series, did not look comfortable at any stage. It was ironic, then, when perhaps his most convincing shot of the day – a full-blooded pull-stroke off near the middle of the bat – was intercepted by Luke Wright who took a fine low catch at square-leg. Broad had been less impressive than Anderson, and Collingwood brought Flintoff into the attack in the 12th. After an expensive first over as Tendulkar looked to up the pace, Flintoff produced a beauty in his second to induce a nick from Rahul Dravid which was swallowed by Prior. Dravid did not appear happy at all with the decision but TV replays, with help from Snickometer and HotSpot, showed Aleem Dar to be correct.

Unfortunately, they could not do the same in Flintoff’s next over when the bowler produced a fuller delivery which beat Tendulkar’s edge. Once again the appeal was fulsome, and once again Dar raised his finger. It barely even needed the replays to reveal the error this time. Despite a defiant and awe-inspiring pull into the stands by Yuvraj off Broad which mirrored the same batsman’s blow from the same bowler in the fourth game, India were deep in the mire. They should have slid further still off the last ball of the 20th over, as Flintoff induced another nick, this time from a tentative prod by Uthappa, but Dar failed to notice.

With the introduction of Dimitri Mascarenhas the moment the Powerplays were used-up, England begun to turn the screw. After an unsuccessful experiment with giving Wright his first overs in ODIs, Mascarenhas dismissed Uthappa when the batsman lost patience and snatched a drive at a slower-ball, succeeding only in sending it straight to Anderson at mid-off. Monty Panesar was then thrown the ball and capitalised on the chance to bowl at batsmen whose situation (106 for 5, with the last 2 batsmen of any real repute at the crease, after 25 overs) did not allow any risks to be taken.

Yuvraj and Mahendra Dhoni, like Uthappa and Yuvraj before, hinted at turning the tide – the pitch played few tricks and Collingwood set his fields mostly deep – but like Uthappa Yuvraj could not keep the revival going. In the 31st over he guided a ball from Mascarenhas straight to the captain at third-slip. He went for the kill, reintroducing Flintoff immediately. Flintoff could not make further inroads, and Ramesh Powar played intelligently, while Dhoni strove to make-up for what has mostly been a poor series for the wicketkeeper-batsman. Once again, though, a promising stand could not build beyond that, as Powar, one ball after escaping a run-out via a deflection from the bowler (Panesar), went for a run to short-fine-leg and was caught short by an excellent throw from Owais Shah. The following over India slipped deeper still as Piyush Chawla aimed an expansive drive at Mascarenhas, missed, and was stumped easily by Prior. Mascarenhas was unfortunate to be edged for four off his final delivery but still finished with outstanding figures of 10-23-3, having done the perfect job of keeping the Indians down after Flintoff and Anderson’s early blows.

India’s end would probably have arrived earlier than it did had Collingwood not dropped a sitter from Zaheer in the 41st – as it was, Panesar eventually had him bowled attempting a big hit to leg, and Rudra Pratap managed to hang around long enough for Dhoni to complete a robust half-century. In the 48th, he attempted another big stroke off Flintoff but Anderson took a superb running catch at wide long-off. Flintoff finished with a slightly expensive analysis of 8.3-45-3, but his part in the revival of the attack after Wednesday’s pasting could not be understated. England had also gone through an entire innings without bowling a wide, something they had not achieved since 20012 when they played Zimbabwe at Bulawayo.

India conceded 6 wides and 4 leg-byes before a run was scored off the bat – and by that time Wright had skied a rather ambitious attempt at a pull from his 2nd delivery, giving Rudra Pratap a simple return catch. After Bell eased his 1st ball to third-man, the left-armer struck again, as Prior fished at a ball which did nothing of note outside off, giving Dhoni an easy catch. His series has been a poor one and he is bound to face questions over his place when the winter touring party to Sri Lanka is announced.

Despite being 11 for 2, Bell and Pietersen did not appear vexed, and the Indian seamers gave them no real problems, repeatedly bowling too many short deliveries, especially to Bell. Pietersen, never appearing in a hurry, took what came his way. Dravid was forced to introduce Chawla as early as the 11th over, alongside Ganguly. The 18-year-old wristspinner could not cause the problems he had earlier in the series, despite finding some turn, which would have made Dravid feel slightly better about his decision to bat.

Just as victory was looking assured, however, Pietersen once again found a way to run out a team-mate, first calling then sending back Bell for a single to Tendulkar at mid-wicket. The fielder returned the ball to Ganguly, who just managed to break the stumps before Bell could dive into the crease. Collingwood, however, was equally untroubled, and Dravid rotated his bowlers and fields in vain. After reaching 106 for 3 after 24 overs, the batsmen upped the ante, using their feet to the spinners and regularly rocking back to hit the seamers through leg as they continued to bowl too short. Pietersen completed his half-century in the 31st, Collingwood in the 32nd, and victory arrived in the 37th as Pietersen lofted Powar over his head for three. The celebrations got going in earnest, with Ian Bell landing the Player of the Series award for his 422 runs at 70.33, and Collingwood having registered his first series victory as captain. He will hope to avoid the fate which awaited Michael Vaughan in 2003 after he won his first two – the Yorkshire man then failed to win another in his entire four-year-span stint.

India 187 all out (47.3 overs)
Mahendra Dhoni 50
James Anderson 9-28-2, Andrew Flintoff 8.3-45-3, Dimitri Mascarenhas 10-23-3

England 188 for 3 (36.2 overs)
Kevin Pietersen 71*, Paul Collingwood 64*

England won by 7 wickets