Flintoff shows way as England find feet

As England duly exacted revenge here yesterday it emerged precisely what they mean by their frequent descriptions of this one-day tour as a hard slog. It has nothing to do after all with a seven-week schedule of 11 international matches in 11 different cities on two continents. That is a walk in the park compared to what has been happening to their bowlers in the first 15 overs.

Now that is hard slogging. So hard (not to mention long and high) that Duncan Fletcher, the team's coach, admitted yesterday that the seam bowlers had been spoken to. It sounded as though they had been called into the boss's office for a ticking off and notified that they must do better with the one-day series against New Zealand starting on Wednesday.

The team management (ie Fletcher) decided to act after Friday's day-night match in this city when the reconstructed fast bowler, Simon Doull, pinch-hit his way to 80 in 47 balls for Northern Districts and England looked as though they were star-gazing.

There was no repeat in the day match at Seddon Park yesterday as Doull failed and England contained much more assertively. Despite faltering at the top of the innings the tourists won at a gallop by five wickets, Owais Shah enjoying some essential practice in the middle and Andrew Flintoff finishing the game explosively with 45 off 25 balls.

It was exciting stuff, though not exciting enough for Flintoff to take off his shirt as he had when he took the final wicket a week earlier in Bombay. Probably good thinking in front of a sedate Kiwi crowd on a lovely, summer Sunday. They did not look as though they were ready for the Flintoff frame.

The victory with 16.2 overs left did not prevent Fletcher expressing his displeasure with the England bowlers about their performances over the last two games. He is not prone to issuing public criticism so they must have been awful.

"It was quite a good work out but I still think we should have played a bit better," he said. "Simon Doull played very well [on Friday] with some great hitting but I believe our bowlers didn't really think what they were doing. We've had a good chat with them on a one-to-one basis. Maybe they didn't vary the pace enough and didn't really think about it. I felt that they thought he was going to get out at any time." These were harsh, but accurate and timely, words from the England coach because it is becoming clear as every match passes that the first 15 overs, when the severest fielding restrictions apply, are again to become overwhelmingly significant in determining the course of a game. Who makes the most of them with bat and ball will determine the destiny of the World Cup next year.

It works two ways. The opening batsmen are constantly experimenting with methods to score rapidly and England are making advances. The opening bowlers are trying to devise methods of containment, and England have been falling backwards.

All the front-line bowlers were dealt with severely by Doull on Friday and so fast was his scoring rate that later batsmen were able essentially to nudge and nurdle their way to a target of 289.

Fletcher referred to only one of his bowlers by name but then Andrew Caddick has had a bad weekend on his return to the country of his birth. Having been mauled by Doull like everybody else in the first match against Northern Districts (0-56 in 10 overs), he was alone in having punishment inflicted yesterday (0-48 in 10).

"I think he will realise he's far better bowler than that," Fletcher said. "It may be something to do with him coming back, trying too hard and trying to look a little bit relaxed at the same time. But you don't know what's inside a man's mind." Fletcher was pretty sure Caddick would have it all sorted out for Wednesday.

The match was another triumph for Flintoff who is on a deserved roll. He took three wickets while being characteristically economical having quickly found the appropriate length for a sporting pitch. His batting is confident again.

England had made a porridge of chasing 161 when he came to the wicket at 96 for 5 in the 27th over. It was just conceivable that they might lose for the second time to the Districts. Flintoff, selecting wisely, hit them to victory with a six and nine fours. His placement on the ground and the air was confident once more. His footwork, said Fletcher, has been restored. It was the sort of hard slog England could enjoy.

* New Zealand have dropped their wicketkeeper, Adam Parore, from the one-day squad to play England. He is one of five omissions from the squad which was overwhelmed by South Africa in the finals of the triangular series in Australia. Chris Nevin of Wellington replaces Parore and will open the batting. Daryl Tuffey, the pace bowler, is also included.

HAMILTON SCOREBOARD
Northern Districts won toss

NORTHERN DISTRICTS
S B Doull c Thorpe b Gough 11
J A H Marshall c Giles b Flintoff 18
M E Parlane b Giles 25
S B Styris c Foster b Giles 1
M N Hart c Knight b White 2
H J H Marshall b White 6
G E Bradburn not out 46
*ÝR G Hart b Vaughan 22
J A F Yovich c Vaughan b Flintoff 13
D R Tuffey c Thorpe b Flintoff 3
I G Butler c Foster b Gough 1
Extras (w3 1b8 nb1) 12
Total (49.2 overs) 160
Fall: 1-15, 2-52, 3-61, 4-64, 5-66, 6-71, 7-115, 8-144, 9-151.
Bowling: Gough 9.2-4-21-2 (w1); Caddick 10-0-48-0 (w1); Flintoff 9-1-20-3; Giles 10-2-22-2; White 8-2-23-2 (nb1); Vaughan 3-0-18-1.

ENGLAND
N V Knight c H Marshall b Yovich 17
M P Vaughan c R Hart b Butler 6
*N Hussain c R Hart b Yovich 29
G P Thorpe c Parlane b Yovich 2
O A Shah not out 29
C White c H Marshall b Doull 15
A Flintoff not out 45
Extras (nb16 w4) 20
Total (for 5, 33.4 overs) 163
Fall: 1-6, 2-55, 3-58, 4-74, 5-96.
Did not bat: ÝJ S Foster, A F Giles, A R Caddick, D Gough.
Bowling: Tuffey 7-3-31-0 (w1 nb3); Butler 8.4-0-45-1 (w2, nb5); Yovich 6-1-33-3 (nb5); Doull 9-0-25-1(w1); Styrus 3-0-29-0.

Umpires: B F Bowden and E A Watkin.

Northern Districts innings: 50: 80 balls, 52 min; 100: 206 balls, 133 min; 150: 277 balls, 183 min.

England innings: 50: 65 balls, 47 min; 100: 170 balls, 132 min; 150: 203 balls, 157 min.