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| April 13, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1427 |
Strauss sparkles as England record first success
JAMSHEDPUR (India), April 12: Stand-in captain Andrew Strauss stroked 74 to guide England to a five-wicket victory over India in the sixth and penultimate One-day International on Wednesday.
The tourists finally clicked with bat and ball to record their first victory in the seven-match series which has already been settled with India now 4-1 up. The fifth game was washed out.
England coasted to 227 for five in 42.4 overs after their seamers bowled out India to 223 all out in 48 overs.
Strauss, deputising for rested captain Andrew Flintoff, added 107 for the opening wicket with Ian Bell, who made 46. The Middlesex batsman was forced to retire with exhaustion and what appeared a hamstring niggle with England still 65 runs adrift.Paul Collingwood (23 not out) guided the tourists home along with Ian Blackwell (14 not out), who hit the winning six.
Wicket-keeper Mahendra Dhoni lashed 96 on his home ground to rescue the Indian innings, narrowly missing out on a third one-day hundred.
Dhoni, 24, smashed 10 fours and three sixes after he was promoted to open and added 107 for the sixth wicket with Ramesh Powar (54).
England's seamers stifled the Indian batsmen though, James Anderson (3-28), Sajid Mahmood (3-37) and Liam Plunkett (2-22) doing most of the damage after reducing the innings to 79 for five.
Strauss, named Man-of-the-Match, smashed left-arm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh for three fours in one over as he and Bell made a quickfire start to England's reply.
The duo were also severe against 21-year-old debutant Vikram Singh and Munaf Patel as India's rookie pace trio struggled on a good batting pitch.
Strauss reached his ninth one-day fifty off 48 balls, the second in the series, with an edged four against Harbhajan Singh, the only bowler to impress.
Bell, playing in only his 10th one-dayer, hit a succession of lovely drives past cover until he was caught behind, edging a doosra delivery from Harbhajan.
Off-spinner Powar bowled Vikram Solanki (7) after he gave the charge before Strauss was forced off the field.
Kevin Pietersen (33) and Collingwood pushed the score close to the 200-run mark until Harbhajan struck twice.
He had Pietersen caught and bowled while Matt Prior (3) holed out to mid-off.
The final one-day will be played in Indore on Saturday.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
V. Sehwag c Solanki b Anderson 4
M.S. Dhoni c Solanki b Mahmood 96
Mohammad Kaif lbw b Mahmood 15
Yuvraj Singh b Plunkett 4
S. K. Raina c Prior b Plunkett 2
Y. Venugopal Rao c Prior b Anderson 10
R. R.Powar c Hoggard b Collingwood 54
Harbhajan Singh b Pietersen 4
R.P. Singh c Blackwell b Mahmood 7
V.R.V. Singh c Blackwell b Anderson 8
Munaf Patel not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-14) 18
TOTAL (all out, 48 overs) 223
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-46, 3-58, 4-63, 5-79, 6-186, 7-196, 8-209, 9-216.
BOWLING: Anderson 9-2-28-3 (1w); Hoggard 8-0-59-0 (2w); Mahmood 8-0-37-3 (6w); Plunkett 5-0-22-2 (2w); Blackwell 10-0-33-0; Solanki 4-0-25-0; Pietersen 1-0-4-1; Collingwood 3-0-11-1 (1w).
ENGLAND:
A.J. Strauss retired hurt 74
I.R. Bell c Dhoni b Harbhajan 46
V. S. Solanki b Powar 7
K.P. Pietersen c and b Harbhajan 33
P. D. Collingwood not out 23
M.J. Prior c V.R.V. Singh b Harbhajan 3
L.E. Plunkett c Sehwag b Powar 0
I. D.Blackwell not out 14
EXTRAS (LB-10, W-7, NB-10) 27
TOTAL (for five wkts, 42.4 overs) 227
FALL OF WKTS: 1-107, 2-120, 3-198, 4-207, 5-209.
DID NOT BAT: S.I. Mahmood, M.J. Hoggard, J.M. Anderson.
BOWLING: R.P. Singh 8-1-48-0 (2w); Munaf Patel 7-0-37-0 (6nb, 2w); V.R.V. Singh 5-0-33-0 (3nb); Harbhajan Singh 10-0-30-3; Powar 8.4-0-44-2 (1nb, 2w); Yuvraj Singh 4-0-25-0 (1w).
UMPIRES: K. Hariharan (India) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: A.V. Jayapraksh (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Andrew Strauss.
FINAL MATCH: At Indore on Saturday.—Agencies
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