Hussain praises team after England win

England skipper Nasser Hussain praised his players for compensating for their batting mistakes with their efforts in the field after a thrilling five-run win over India in the final one-day international on Sunday.

"They messed up, they knew that and they put it right," a delighted Hussain said after England pulled off the victory to draw the six-match series 3-3.

England, led by opener Marcus Trescothick's 80-ball 95 were coasting towards a huge total, but suffered a mid-innings slump to eventually be all out for 255.

"We should have got 300," Hussain said after the match.

But England recovered well to bowl out India for 250 with the penultimate ball of the match, fighting back after the hosts looked set for victory as skipper Saurav Ganguly anchored the innings with 80.

Hussain said he never lost hope of winning even when India reached 191 for three in the 37th over.

"We were never out of the game," said Hussain, whose team pulled off a two-run victory in the previous game in New Delhi on Thursday after being in a similar situation.

"The fielding and bowling were excellent and (Andrew) Flintoff showed a lot of composure."

All-rounder Flintoff lifted England with an excellent innings of 40 after off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had claimed a career-best 5-43 to reduce the tourists to 218 for nine.

CONFIDENCE BOOST

Hussain said his young side had performed well on a tour that almost did not happen amid security concerns raised by the instability in Afghanistan.

"Two months ago, there was all this talk about the team not coming here at all," he said.

"It's been a very, very fulfilling trip and I'd like to thank the Indian people for supporting the cricket so much."

Hussain added: "We haven't transformed all that much. Three-all is not worth going over the top about. But we have now won eight out of 11 games, so we are going in the right direction."

England had swept a five-game one-day series in Zimbabwe ahead of the Indian tour.

Hussain said his players gained a lot from the one-dayers and the three-Test series, which ended in December with a 1-0 defeat for the tourists.

England were scheduled to fly to New Zealand later on Sunday and Hussain said the Indian experience would stand his side in good stead for the next leg of their tour.

"If you can play like this in India, you can play like this anywhere else in the world," he said. "This will give us lot of confidence."

The Madras-born Hussain, however, regretted he could not score a century on the Indian tour. "I am pretty disappointed I didn't get a hundred in India which I wanted," he said.

"We threw it away," said a dejected Ganguly, who blamed his side's inexperienced middle-order batsmen for succumbing to pressure during the chase at the end.

"It was a good track to bat on. But it is an inexperienced side," he said.

Ganguly praised England for the way they came back in the series and added: "We played well in patches and they did as well."

Also read:
India mess it up in Mumbai

England in India: The complete coverage

Mail Cricket Editor