LEEDS, July 2: England won their first match of the NatWest Series when they defeated West Indies by seven wickets in their day/night one-day international at Headingley here on Thursday,(Prtly reported in Friday's edition).
England, chasing just 160 for victory, won with 28 overs to spare. Andrew Strauss was 44 not out and the recalled Andrew Flintoff 21 not out after opener Marcus Trescothick had made 55.
Pace bowlers Stephen Harmison and James Anderson took three wickets apiece as England bowled out the West Indies. Harmison, for the second time in successive matches, took career-best one-day figures, finishing with three for 31 while Anderson took three for 37.
West Indies were all out with 59 balls of their innings left. They collapsesd to 72 for six before a stand of 63 in 74 balls between Ramnaresh Sarwan (46) and Ricardo Powell (36) gave their bowlers something to defend.
England, needing to win two of their three remaining games to have a chance of qualifying for the Lord's final of this triangular event on July 10, had a boost when Vaughan won the toss and elected to field.
Since Vaughan became captain last year England, in their previous 20 completed one-dayers, had won all the 12 where they had bowled first and lost the eight batting first.
The pattern had been maintained during seven-wicket defeats by New Zealand and West Indies earlier in the series where England were bowled out for meagre scores of 147 and 101 respectively.
This time the tables were turned although England had a couple of nervy moments during their chase. Vaughan, batting on his Yorkshire home ground, was given a life on five when Jermaine Lawson floored a caught and bowled chance.
However, on 14, he chased medium-pacer Dwayne Bravo's first ball - which would have been signalled wide had he left it - and edged an intended cut through to Chris Gayle at first slip.
Bravo, who had taken career-best figures of three for 26 in Sunday's win against England, struck again when he bowled Robert Key, recalled to bolster the middle-order, for six off the front pad with a delivery that cut back off the pitch.
Left-hander Trescothick then calmed the nerves of a capacity crowd with three successive boundaries off Bravo to bring up his fifty in 47 balls with eight fours. But on 55 the opener went in unlucky fashion when he was run out backing up after Bradshaw deflected Strauss's drive on to the stumps at the bowler's end.
Trescothick and fellow lefty Strauss had put on 56 in 35 balls and at 120 for three, England were in sight of victory on a sunlit evening. Lancashire pace bowling all-rounder Flintoff had been ruled out of the series with an ankle injury. But recalled here as a batsman only, he drove Ravi Rampaul for four to huge cheers. And there was an even bigger roar when he pulled Rampaul for six. Earlier Durham quick Harmison had Shivnarine Chanderpaul (three) caught behind by diving wicket-keeper Geraint Jones in only the second over.
England then took two wickets in two balls with left-hander Gayle run out for a brisk 23 by Vaughan's direct hit from extra cover. Anderson captured the prize scalp of West Indies captain Brian Lara for just six when the left-hander dragged a full-length ball on to his stumps.
Sarwan fell to a brilliant one-handed catch above his head by a leaping Paul Collingwood at backward point off medium-pacer Trescothick. He faced 78 balls with four fours. And four balls later Harmison had Powell playing on for 36, which featured a straight six off Trescothick, and three fours.
Scoreboard
West Indies
C. Gayle run out 23
S. Chanderpaul c Jones b Harmison 3
D. Smith c Jones b Harmison 2
R. Sarwan c Collingwood b Trescothick 46
B. Lara b Anderson 6
D. Bravo c Jones b Anderson 5
R. Jacobs b Anderson 2
R. Powell b Harmison 36
I. Bradshaw c Jones b McGrath 12
R. Rampaul c Gough b Anderson 10
J. Lawson not out 0
Extras (lb4, w9, nb1) 14
Total (10 wkts, 40.1 overs) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-29, 3-29, 4-40, 5-62, 6-72, 7-135, 8-137, 9-159, 10-159
Bowling: Gough 8.1-1-23-1; Harmison 10-2-31-3 (1nb, 2w); Anderson 8-1-37-3; McGrath 10-1-36-1 (2w); Trescothick 4-0-28-1 (1w)
England
M. Trescothick run out 55
M. Vaughan c Gayle b Bravo 14
R. Key b Bravo 6
A. Strauss not out 44
A. Flintoff not out 21
Extras (lb8, w4, nb8) 20
Total (3 wkts, 22 overs) 160
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-64, 3-120
Did not bat: P Collingwood, G Jones, A McGrath, D Gough, S Harmison, J Anderson
Bowling: Bradshaw 6-0-29-0 (1w); Lawson 7-0-50-0 (4nb, 1w); Bravo 4-0-29-2 (2w); Rampaul 3-0-28-0 (4nb); Smith 2-0-16-0
Toss: England
Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS), Mark Benson (ENG)
TV umpire: Jeremy Lloyds (ENG)
Match referee: Gundappa Viswanath (IND)
Result: England won by 7 wkts. -AFP