SPORTS

Flintoff leads England to series win

By Kunal Pradhan
November 10, 2003

Andrew Flintoff cracked a 47-ball 70 not out as England beat Bangladesh by seven wickets to clinch the three-match one-day series 2-0 on Monday.

The 25-year-old all rounder claimed his second successive man-of-the-match award as he hammered nine fours and four sixes while sharing in an unbroken 100-run stand with captain Michael Vaughan (37 not out).

England coasted home with more than 22 overs of the day-nighter to spare.

Seamer Richard Johnson had earlier picked up three for 22 to restrict Bangladesh to a wretched 134 for nine from 50 overs after electing to bat. At one stage they were seven for four in the 10th over.

But England got into early trouble against the seaming ball during their reply, losing Vikram Solanki (0), Marcus Trescothick (9) and Paul Collingwood (11) to slump to 37 for three, before Flintoff took matters into his own hands.

He was particularly severe on left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, who he hit for 17 runs in an over.

There was one life, Manjural Islam dropping an easy skier at mid-off when the batsman, on 26, miscued an attempted drive off paceman Mushfiqur Rahman, by far the best Bangladesh bowler.

Flintoff made the hosts pay dearly for the error, completing his 10th one-day 50 with a six over long-on off Khaled Mahmud before knocking off the winning runs with another straight boundary.

Flintoff scored a half-century and took four wickets last week in the first match at Chittagong, where England also won by seven wickets. He has scored 232 runs in his last five one-dayers and been dismissed just once.

EARLY BLOWS

England's bowlers had called the shots with Johnson and James Anderson striking two blows each to reduce Bangladesh to seven for four.

Anderson did the initial damage, removing opener Hannan Sarkar and debutant Mohammad Moniruzzam, both for naught, in a first spell of 8-4-8-2.

Johnson complemented him from the other end, sending back Nafis Iqbal (4) and Alok Kapali (2), both caught behind while fishing outside off.

But Bangladesh were boosted by a dogged 37 by Rajin Saleh.

He shared in a 53-run fifth-wicket stand with Rahman (22) as they relied mainly on ones and twos to salvage something from the innings, bringing up the team's 50 in the 26th over.

Saleh smashed medium-pacer Rikki Clarke for two fours in an over but was out giving him the charge once too often, caught at mid-wicket by Ashley Giles.

Wickets started crumbling once more after Saleh's dismissal, left-arm spinner Giles trapping Mahmud leg before wicket for four and Flintoff having Khaled Mashud caught behind, also for four.

The third and final match of the series will be played in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Scoreboard:

Bangladesh:
H.Sarkar c Collingwood b Anderson 0
N.Iqbal c Read b Johnson 4
M.Moniruzzaman c Read b Anderson 0
R.Saleh c Giles b Clarke 37
A.Kapali c Read b Johnson 2
M.Rahman b Johnson 22
K.Mahmud lbw b Giles 4
K.Mashud c Read b Flintoff 4
M.Islam run out 8
M.Rafique not out 27
T.Baisya not out 12

Extras: (b-5 lb-1 nb-1 w-7) 14

Total: (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 134

Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-3 3-5 4-7 5-60 6-69 7-77 8-80 9-112

Bowling: Anderson 10-4-17-2, Johnson 10-0-22-3 (w-2), Flintoff 10-2-17-1 (w-2), Clarke 10-3-35-1 (nb-1 w-3), Giles 9-1-32-1, Blackwell 1-0-5-0.

England:
M.Trescothick b Rahman 9
V.Solanki lbw b Baisya 0
M.Vaughan not out 37
P.Collingwood b Baisya 11
A.Flintoff not out 70

Extras: (b-4 lb-2 nb-2 w-2) 10

Total: (for three wickets, 27.4 overs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-5 2-19 3-37

Did not bat: I.Blackwell, R.Clarke, A.Giles, R.Johnson, J.Anderson

Bowling: Tapash Baisya 7-0-35-2 (nb-2), Mushfiqur Rahman 10-4-28-1 (w-1), Mohammad Rafique 5-0-39-0 (w-1), Khaled Mahmud 3.4-0-22-0, Manjural Islam 2-0-7-0.

Result: England won by seven wickets.

First match: Chittagong - England won by seven wickets.

Third match: Dhaka, November 12.

Kunal Pradhan
Source: REUTERS
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