Flintoff fires England to victory

Eurosport - Sat, 04 Apr 18:04:00 2009

England ended their ragged tour of the West Indies on a high when an Andrew Flintoff hat-trick helped them beat the hosts by 26 runs in a rain-shortened match to win the one-day series 3-2.

CRICKET England celebrate Andrew Flintoff - 0

Flintoff took five for 19 in his five overs, including the hat-trick in his final over, as England claimed their first one-day series victory in the Caribbean.

It was a well-deserved win on Friday as England bowled with accuracy and discipline after an earlier batting collapse meant they managed only 172 for five from their allotted 29 overs.

"It has been a long hard tour and to come out at the end with something is pretty special," England captain Strauss said. "I'm delighted. We played really well and handled the pressure well. We're very happy tonight.

"It has been a tough tour. We would have liked to have won the Test series (won 1-0 by West Indies) - we played some good cricket but kept coming out with nothing."

Put in to bat, England started well as they overcame the early loss of Andrew Strauss to reach 88-2 after 15 overs on a difficult pitch. However, an all-too-familiar middle-order collapse took the steam out of the innings.

Kevin Pietersen was looking good on 48 when recalled spinner Sulieman Benn had him controversially caught by Darren Sammy, with TV pictures suggesting he grounded the ball.

Ravi Bopara was also in lively form but he too missed out on a half-century when he fell for 44. When Owais Shah and Flintoff followed soon after, England had slumped to 112-5.

Paul Collingwood (35 not out) and Matt Prior (25 not out) staged a spirited recovery with an unbeaten partnership of 60, including 30 off the last three overs.

West Indies' chase got off to the worst possible start when captain Chris Gayle was caught in the slips off Jimmy Anderson off the third ball of the innings.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (13) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (23), who have troubled England throughout the tour, both settled in but failed to build on their starts as England took wickets at regular intervals.

Flintoff, whose tour has been bedevilled by injury, then took centre stage as he bowled Denesh Ramdin, had Ravi Rampaul lbw and then bowled Benn.

The match ended in something of a shambles as Sammy (seven) was run out going for a second run to leave them all out 146 after 28 overs.

Strauss was appointed captain of the Test and one-day teams despite not being involved in one-day internationals for almost two years but he rewarded the selectors for their faith by taking the man of the series award.

"I haven't played one day cricket for a couple of years so I was a bit nervous especially as a captain," he said. "One thing as a captain is to lead from the front. I had a good Test series, I saw the ball well and had a positive intent."

Man of the match Flintoff said: "It has been a tough tour so it is nice to finish on a high and a win. It was also a nice finish personally for me today.

"We had a tough trip to India just before Christmas and then a Test series here. It was important to finish on a high with what we have coming up."

Of his injuries, he said: "It has been frustrating but it's nights like this that keep you going."

Reuters

Comment 14 - 33 of 33

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. I wasn't blaming the umpire wa, I was thinking that­ it used to be that a fielder would have held up his­ hands, said it bounced and called the batsman back.­ Times have really changed.

    From glos.oldspot, on Fri 3 Apr 8:45PM

  2. Oh typical! It bounced, c'mon...

    From glos.oldspot, on Fri 3 Apr 7:50PM

  3. Fair enough wa, I was in grumpy old man mode! Flintoff­ is now doing the stuff...

    From glos.oldspot, on Fri 3 Apr 9:42PM

  4. what's going on? Back to normal and it'll have­ to be Collingwood that saves us as usual

    From j.gibsons, on Fri 3 Apr 8:08PM

  5. This is going to be Pietersen's day! He's­ obviously stopped thinking about home, missus and the­ IPL and is starting to play properly again.

    From glos.oldspot, on Fri 3 Apr 7:27PM

  6. I hate to say it but we are rubbish, and its about time­ we realised it. The problem with our media is that we­ like to pretend or believe we are good but the reality­ is we are far from it.

    From Brian B, on Fri 3 Apr 8:27AM

  7. Sammy was lying with his chest on top of the ball!!! He­ picked the ball up off the ground! Cheating b@$tard! If­ the West Indies are that desperate to win then I pity­ them. If a player had done that when Clive Lloyd was­ captain they would never have played for the West­ Indies again.

    From Bobito, on Fri 3 Apr 8:18PM

  8. Yeah and Bopara looks good too, hopefully this will be­ a decent partnership.

    From j.gibsons, on Fri 3 Apr 7:34PM

  9. Cheaters never prosper, well done Flintoff and England.

    From ANDREW S, on Sat 4 Apr 3:10AM

  10. I have just seen it , and it was clearly not out. Every­ team has these kind of decisions go for and against­ them now and then.

    From laboca123, on Fri 3 Apr 10:14PM

  11. Stop with the fking invalid comment­ ffs.
    Pollard/Anderson top wicket takers with 9 (Pollard­ has 80 runs however).
    Bravo excellent in the field,­ took 8 wickets and put in 100 runs.
    Broad, 8 wickets,­ but with a low economy rate.
    Strauss/Chanderpaul each­ with around 200 runs.

    I don't know about you, but­ Pollard/Bravo have been the best performers in the­ series, and would've won the award had they won the­ series. Also to be fair, West Indies were the better­ team over the 5 games.

    From i am a teacup, on Sat 4 Apr 12:07AM

  12. I think I would have gone for James Anderson, he's­ really been impressive

    From glos.oldspot, on Fri 3 Apr 11:38PM

  13. How does Strauss get man of the series? A bit much in­ my opinion...

    From i am a teacup, on Fri 3 Apr 11:34PM

  14. well bloody hell england won

    From Brett, on Fri 3 Apr 11:11PM

  15. WHY COULD'NT DARREN SAMMY ADMIT HE DID'NT MKE A­ CLEAN CATCH INSTEAD OF CLAIMING IT
    YORKY BOY

    From f.fennell, on Sat 4 Apr 10:26AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Mmmmm lets appoint a captain and coach who have­ achieved nothing but abject failure and the ability to­ implement a fitness regime that as professional­ sportsmen is a basic requirement.

    The lack of talent,­ ambition, style, intent, strategy or substance can then­ be ignored as usual!!!!

    Same sh%t different day

    From Shottaway, on Thu 2 Apr 6:39PM

  17. The pitch was a reletively even contest between bat and­ ball , and the result?
    West indies were hammered .­ Enough said.
    P.S. DARREN SAMMY SHOULD BE BANNED FOR 3­ MONTHS FOR BARE FACED BLATENT CHEATING.

    From EDWARD, on Sun 5 Apr 12:55AM

  18. England will hammer them in the forthcoming Test Series­ in England, on 'proper' Test Match wickets - at­ least 2 Test Matches will be won by an innings, mark my­ words.

    From cameron w, on Sat 4 Apr 12:52PM

  19. West Indies are hopeless

    From cameron w, on Sat 4 Apr 12:52PM

  20. Celebrate the victory for gods sake. And Yahoo you­ bunch of imbeciles, sort out this invalid comment @#$%

    From Jamie, on Sat 4 Apr 12:01PM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account