England 288-2 India 184 (Eng. win by 104 runs): Brilliant Bell sets tone as England's all-round excellence stuns India

By Angus Fraser at the Rose Bowl
Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Ian Bell and Alastair Cook during their partnership of 178

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It was not a pair of maiden one-day hundreds from Alastair Cook and Ian Bell that convinced everyone that yesterday's day/night encounter here was destined to go England's way; it was the sight of Monty Panesar running an Indian batsman out with an inspired piece of fielding.

Panesar's fielding has improved considerably since his initial selection for England 18 months ago, but it has not stopped him being nicknamed 'come one' by the opposition batsmen, who seem to make the call whenever they hit the ball to him. But when Sourav Ganguly turned to take a second run after England's spinner had dived on a sumptuous Sachin Tendulkar drive to mid-off he was pushing the matter too far, and Panesar's rocket throw to the wicket-keeper, Matthew Prior, defeated the former Indian captain's desperate attempt to get back in his crease.

An England victory was exactly what the seven match NatWest Series needed; defeat for the hosts could have resulted in it degenerating in to a long, drawn out, one-sided contest. India remain favourites to lift the trophy on 8 September but this was an outstanding performance by England, built around the industry of Cook, the brilliance of Bell, the sharpness of James Anderson and the energy of every fielder. The only disappointment is that the display has come three and a half years before the next World Cup, which is definitely not the time to peak. Still, if Paul Collingwood's side can produce these type of performances more regularly than their predecessors there are plenty of reasons for optimism.

There was further good news for England in the form of Andrew Flintoff too. Flintoff tore in like a young colt when Collingwood asked him to bowl the 13th over of India's reply, regularly sending the ball down at speeds in excess of 90mph. After four months rest the 28 year-old should look fresh and eager but, even so, it was still encouraging to see him bowl with such vigour.

Flintoff's hostility made life uncomfortable for Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who would have been the all-rounder's first comeback wicket had he not overstepped. Flintoff's bouncer was too fast for Dhoni who spliced a simple catch up to Prior. In an spicy four over spell he showed no reaction to the ankle injury that has hindered him for the past 18 months. Flintoff got his man with the ninth delivery of his second spell, when Dhoni had another pull at a short ball pounced on by Prior.

The selection of Cook and Bell ahead of Owais Shah surprised many of those attending a dank and dreary Rose Bowl yet the combination provided England with the pivotal partnership, adding 178 for the second wicket. The pair are two of the less glamourous members of England's one-day side and it was brain rather than brawn that dominated the 31 overs they spent together.

One-day cricket creates images of sun and swashbuckling stroke-play but neither was prevalent. There was the occasional lusty blow, when Bell smashed the leg-spin of Piyush Chawla for six, and when Cook clogged Zaheer Khan over mid-wicket for four. Kevin Pietersen thumped the ball around too in the latter overs, but the vast majority of runs in the match winning partnership came through skilful placement and superb running between the wickets – only 58 of the 178 runs collected came via boundaries.

Bell's unbeaten 126 was the better innings, possessing the touches and range of stroke of a high quality batsman. Bell has shown plenty of potential in 47 appearances but, frustratingly, he had not gone on to post a potentially match-winning score. His one-day career was in danger of following that of Michael Vaughan, England's previous No 3, but that stigma has now disappeared. Cook's display was, predictably, far more workmanlike but it proved to those who doubted his adaptability that he is capable of performing in this form of the game.

Cook's was the first to reach three figures when he pushed RP Singh in to the off side for a single, and Bell's came up five overs later when he glanced Ajit Agarkar to fine-leg for four. Cook's century took 122 balls to accumulate, Bell's exactly 100.

It was hoped that England would learn from the 2-1 defeat to the West Indies earlier in the summer and this performance suggests they have. England showed patience and confidence during the opening 20 overs of the innings. Wickets were not frittered away, they were kept in hand for a late and brutal onslaught. England failed to match the West Indies, who twice smacked more than 100 runs in the final 10 overs, but 78 was not bad. What was impressive was the accumulation of 200 runs between the 21st and 30th overs.

England were helped by India who were awful. The selection of only three specialist seamers was wrong, the fielding was ragged towards the end of England's innings and the batting was clueless. A criticism of England when they played the West Indies was that they did not pick bowlers capable of taking wickets in the middle of an innings and this was the case here for India.

It was as though India entered the game believing that they could chase down whatever England set them. This assessment became questionable in the third over of India's reply when Panesar ran Ganguly out and it had all but evaporated by the end of Anderson's excellent opening spell. Anderson's first wicket, that of Gautam Gambhir, made him the fifth England bowler to claim 100 one-day scalps, but it was the dismissal of Tendulkar, caught at mid-wicket, that gave him greater pleasure.

Dravid and Dhoni attempted to repair the damage but with the run-rate rising risks had to be taken and both perished playing cross-batted strokes. With the game won Anderson returned to take career best figures of 4 for 23.

Rose Bowl Scoreboard

India won toss

England

A N Cook b R P Singh 102

†M J Prior c Dravid b Khan 19

I R Bell not out 126

K P Pietersen not out 33

Extras (lb4 w4) 8

Total (for 2, 50 overs) 288

Fall: 1-43 2-221.

Did not bat: *P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, R S Bopara, A D Mascarenhas, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, M S Panesar.

Bowling: Khan 10-1-49-1; Agarkar 10-1-65-0; R P Singh 10-0-49-1; Ganguly 4-0-21-0; Chawla 7-0-42-0; Tendulkar 4-0-29-0; Yuvraj Singh 5-0-29-0.