The Hindu : Sport : England wins series with a clinical performance

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England wins series with a clinical performance

S. Dinakar

Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood come good; Rahul Dravid’s decision to bat first backfires

— PHOTO: AP

IN SEVENTH HEAVEN: The England team with the NatWest Trophy after defeating India in the final ODI on Saturday.

London: England, having the best of the conditions after India elected to bat, played the percentages well to win the decider at Lord’s by seven wickets on Saturday. Paul Collingwood’s men won the NatWest ODI series 4-3.

The skipper and star batsman Kevin Pietersen ensured that the chase of 188 was competently managed after the host was jolted early. There is a flow in Pietersen’s batsmanship that is so natural.

His drives through the covers were exquisite. Collingwood was focussed and solid. The hundred partnership for the fourth wicket arrived in 117 balls and all the escapes routes were closed for India.

Getting it wrong

It was a day when things went horribly wrong for India. Rahul Dravid’s decision to bat under a cloud cover, that was denser and lower than expected, was driven by the fact that India selected two specialist spinners in the attack.

Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla have performed a commendable job for India in the series but the think-tank had to pick ‘horses for courses.’ At Lord’s, on a cloudy day, India should have selected three paceman, including Ajit Agarkar’s right-arm option with the new ball, and a lone spinner.

This, perhaps, would have also given Dravid the confidence to field after he clinched the spin of the coin. Team compositions often dictate the course of events and India got its eleven wrong. And this may have led to the flawed decision of batting first. In any event, India had an extra batsman for the chase.

Dubious decision

There, invariably, is early assistance for the pacemen at Lord’s and matches have been decided in the first 90 minutes. This happened again even if India was undone by at least one serious umpiring error that ended the tenure of Sachin Tendulkar.

By afternoon, the surface had lost its sting and the batsmen only had to overcome the initial phase before they could open out with their strokes. Left-arm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh dealt the early blows, getting the surprisingly promoted Luke Wright — he replaced Alastair Cook — to top-edge a pull and finding the edge of Matthew Prior’s blade with one that angled away. Ian Bell’s stroked a typically fluent 40-ball 36 before Pietersen’s indecisiveness led to his dismissal.

Fighting knock

Then, Pietersen and Collingwood got together. Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50, 72b, 4x4, 1x6), forced to battle with the tail, fought hard, after the England pacemen made serious inroads. Periods of his aggression were judiciously blended with caution. But then, his was an effort in isolation.

Collingwood led well. The England skipper used Andrew Flintoff in four bursts — 5-0-33-2, 2-0-9-0, 1-0-3-0 and 0.3-0-0-1 — giving his trump card breaks between spells. The field placings were unorthodox but effective. In the morning, Sourav Ganguly was unsettled by some well-directed short-pitched bowling from James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Ganguly’s luck eventually ran out; the southpaw’s tame steer off Anderson was snaffled at the second slip. India’s opening partnership — its area of strength — had been broken in the initial overs.

Anderson operated with pace and precision. His zestful out-swing was mixed with clever variations of pace — 75 mph to 92 mph — and there was some bounce and seam movement for this much-improved paceman.

The Lancashire bowler would, however, willingly credit his second wicket to the fielder at point. Wright’s sensational effort, diving forward, to pick a ferocious pull by Gautam Gambhir was catching of the highest order.

Anderson’s first spell was an impressive 8-1-19-2.

Flintoff, the impact cricketer, did not take long to strike. The popular all-rounder had cleared a fitness test in the morning and his left ankle held up well as he pounded in. This was a critical phase of the game.

He struck too, cutting Dravid into half with a sharp off cutter and winning a debatable caught behind shout. Tendulkar launched into Flintoff, striking the paceman for three boundaries and the contest was hotting up on a day of icy winds.

Tendulkar (30 off 46 balls) was set for a bigger contribution when Aleem Dar got it wrong, ruling him caught behind off a Flintoff delivery that darted away. India was 59 for four in only 15.4 overs.

Yuvraj Singh, who dismissed the luckless Broad into the stands, and Robin Uthappa began rebuilding the innings.

Uthappa was caught behind off Flintoff — this was a big edge — but Dar thought otherwise. Frayed tempers were on view.

Yuvraj and Uthappa added 47 for the fifth wicket before the latter attempted an off-drive off Dimitri Mascarenhas, without the use of feet, and spooned a catch to mid-off.

Soon, Mascarenhas had Yuvraj taken at backward point.

Mascarenhas is not quick but bowls a run-denying length, operates to his field and does change his pace well.

He and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar maintained the pressure on the Indian batsmen. England was buzzing on the arena.

SCOREBOARD India: S. Ganguly c Flintoff b Anderson 15, S. Tendulkar c Prior b Flintoff 30, G. Gambhir c Wright b Anderson 12, R. Dravid c Prior b Flintoff 0, Yuvraj c Collingwood b Mascarenhas 28, R. Uthappa c Anderson b Mascarenhas 22, M.S. Dhon i c Anderson b Flintoff 50, R. Powar (run out) 10, P. Chawla st. Prior b Mascarenhas 0, Zaheer b Panesar 7, R.P. Singh (not out) 1; Extras (lb-8, nb-4) 12; Total (in 47.3 overs) 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Ganguly), 2-52 (Gambhir), 3-53 (Dravid), 4-59 (Tendulkar), 5-106 (Uthappa), 6-119 (Yuvraj), 7-147 (Powar), 8-148 (Chawla), 9-160 (Zaheer).

England bowling: Broad 10-0-44-0, Anderson 9-1-28-2, Flintoff 8.3-0-45-3, Mascarenhas 10-2-23-3, Panesar 8-2-28-1, Wright 2-0-11-0.

England: M. Prior c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 0, L. Wright c & b R.P. Singh 0, I. Bell (run out) 36, K. Pietersen (not out) 71, P. Collingwood (not out) 64; Extras (lb-8, w-9) 17; Total (for three wkts. in 36.2 overs) 188.

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Wright), 2-11 (Prior), 3-74 (Bell).

India bowling: Zaheer 9-1-40-0, R.P. Singh 7-0-40-2, Chawla 9-1-44-0, Ganguly 4-0-13-0, Powar 5.2-0-32-0, Yuvraj 2-0-11-0.

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