England clinch series victory

8 September 2007

Kevin Pietersen celebrates England's win © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen and captain Paul Collingwood steered England to a seven-wicket victory over India in the seventh ODI to seal a 4-3 victory in the NatWest Series at Lord’s.

Pietersen and Collingwood both made half-centuries but England had to overcome a nervous start after losing new-look opening pair Matt Prior and Luke Wright without a run between them.

Wright, preferred in the side to Alastair Cook, fell to only his second delivery when he spooned a return catch to Rudra Pratap Singh.

Singh delivered a sharp bouncer which angled away from Wright who attempted a pull shot, but the shot was weak and the ball lobbed up for a simple caught and bowled.

Two balls later and Prior was also back in the pavilion after edging a ball from a length outside off stump to Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Singh.

It took Bell, who was named NatWest player of the series, and Pietersen to bolster the innings with an unbroken half-century stand to take the score to 72 for two after 15 overs.

Warwickshire’s Bell seized on anything short to pull regular boundaries while Pietersen played the supporting role before Bell was run out on 36.

Pietersen worked the ball to midwicket off the bowling of Sourav Ganguly and looked to take a run but there was a breakdown in communication between the pair.

Sachin Tendulkar swooped to return the ball to Ganguly who rushed back to collect a low and slow return and break the stumps just before Bell's outstretched bat reached the line to leave England on 74 for three.

Collingwood is jubilant after securing his first one-day series victory © Getty Images

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That brought Collingwood to the crease and only eight runs came in the next four overs as he and Pietersen consolidated but the latter was never likely to be contained for long despite struggling in this series.

He drove Chawla over long-off for a maximum and cracked him through point in an over costing 15 to resume the victory charge.

Pietersen drove Powar straight down the ground to move to 49 and in the off-spinner's next over blasted him through cover to get to a second successive ODI half-century in 78 balls.

Collingwood had problems reading Chawla but eased Powar twice through extra-cover for his first boundaries before a swivel-pull brought him six off the returning RP Singh.

He did eventually get on top of Chawla and cracked him past point to get to his fifty in 58 deliveries.

Pietersen swept Powar from outside off stump through square leg for four in the first ball of the 36th over to leave England needing three runs for victory.

Pietersen duly obliged next ball and danced down the track to hit the ball high over in the air between mid-off and mid-on. It dropped safely in a gap and the batsmen completed the three runs required for victory.

Andrew Flintoff captures the wicket of Rahul Dravid on his injury return © Getty Images

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Collingwood made 64 not out from 73 balls, smashing seven fours and one six while Pietersen was unbeaten on 71, hitting six fours and one six, from 96 balls.

Earlier Andrew Flintoff claimed three prize wickets on his return to England action.

Flintoff dismissed India captain Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar and Dhoni after missing the past two games with his ongoing ankle injury.

His opening burst removed the heart of India’s batting and meant England were able to restrict their opponents to 187 after losing the toss on a cloudy morning.

The tourists’ first four wickets were shared between Flintoff and James Anderson, who shifted Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir before his Lancashire team mate got started, while Dimitri Mascarenhas returned stunning figures of 10-2-23-2.

Anderson and Stuart Broad began with several moral victories against Ganguly, and Tendulkar was not assured either - before targeting first change Flintoff at the start of the second powerplay.

Ganguly looked unconvincing and got away with a series of mishooks and other assorted edges off the back foot against the new ball - but then his attempt to steer Anderson wide of the slips was neatly caught by Flintoff, the second man in the cordon.

Instead, the number three profited with four overthrows - but his luck ran out when a well-struck pull off Anderson just carried to Wright, diving forward to take a memorable catch at square-leg.

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With the fielding restrictions in place, Tendulkar took a gamble to hit two fours past the off-side ring as Flintoff leaked 10 runs in his first over. But England’s premier all-rounder cranked up the pace in his second over on a responsive surface to have Dravid caught behind.

The India captain appeared to be beaten by one which went straight through between his bat and body, yet umpire Aleem Dar detected the faintest edge to give a caught-behind decision.

Tendulkar was to go the same way, although he may have been unlucky - having got bat on pad but not obviously on the ball as Flintoff found some late movement.

Flintoff thought he had a third caught-behind victim when Robin Uthappa - the star of India’s series-levelling victory at the Brit Oval three days ago - fenced at a short ball.

Flintoff ended his eventful five-over spell with 2-33 - and promptly left the field to have his left ankle re-strapped.

In Flintoff’s absence, England bagged another important wicket - Uthappa holing out at mid-off from the bowling of Mascarenhas.

Collingwood got his field spot on for left-hander Yuvraj Singh, holding onto an edge at a wide slip position to culminate an innings which began with a pulled six off a Broad short ball.

That left Dhoni with only the tail for company which was whittled away to a position of 160 for nine.

There was enough time for Dhoni to record another one-day fifty, the most memorable moment coming when he hit Anderson’s first ball of a new spell over long-on for six.

Another aerial shot, in the next over, terminated the innings, however, as Anderson claimed a fine running catch to give Flintoff a third wicket.