Nehra tears seam out of England's World Cup

Following last night's devastating 82 run defeat by India here, England need to achieve something they have failed to do in four years if they wish to keep their World Cup dream alive. It has been 13 games since Nasser Hussain's side beat Australia in a one-day match but this is the mountain they have to climb in Port Elizabeth on Sunday after being outclassed by an aggressive and disciplined India.

For humbled England there was no disgrace in losing to a talented team who played to their potential, or an inspired bowler who produced the third-best figures in World Cup history.

Not many people outside the several hundred million who adore cricket in India will have heard of the 23-year-old Ashish Nehra, but with his 6 for 23 destruction of England he cut a piece of history just for himself.

Nehra's figures have been bettered only twice in the World Cup ­ Winston Davis' 7 for 51 for the West Indies against Australia at Headingley 20 years ago and Gary Gilmour's 6 for 14 for Australia in the 1975 semi-final at the same venue against England.

England's batsmen had no answer to the left-arm fast bowler, who swung and seamed the ball both ways at will while braving the pain from a sprained left ankle. Vaughan, Hussain, Stewart, Collingwood, White and Irani all fell to a man who had been on the treatment table for the previous two days. Such were his exertions yesterday that he vomited on the pitch.

It is a shame that batting under lights in South Africa is such a disadvantage but this should take nothing away from India whose victory virtually guarantees their qualification for the Super Six stage.

For Nehra, whose previous best one-day return was 3 for 30, this was a day he will never forget. He was fortunate to come into the attack after impressive spells from India's other two high-class performers, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan but he made the most of it.

Following the suicidal run out of Nick Knight in the second over of their reply, England were always on the back foot in their effort to hunt down 250.

That more early wickets failed to fall in the early exchanges was down to luck not judgement. It all started to change in Nehra's third over when Hussain edged a ball which was too close to cut. Matters became worse for England next ball when Alec Stewart was trapped lbw by an in-swinger for a first-ball duck, but the crucial blow came in Nehra's following over when Michael Vaughan, on 20, edged a loose drive to the wicketkeeper.

With England on 62 for 5, India were on fire. This became 93 for 6 when Paul Collingwood nicked one to slip. However, it was in the 31st over that England's task became hopeless when Nehra found the edge of Craig White's and Ronnie Irani's bats in consecutive balls. Simple catches behind the wicket and England were history.

Andrew Flintoff completed a good night for him with an intelligent 64, which helped England's net run-rate, but this was small consolation.

India's innings was dominated by half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and an outstanding spell of bowling from Flintoff. After winning the toss India chose to bat in humid conditions and with a blue sky overhead. Tendulkar looked in awesome form. In the eighth over, he and Virender Sehwag cut loose and 32 runs were smashed off consecutive overs from James Anderson and Andrew Caddick.

One shot stood out and predictably it was from the little master. After clipping a full ball from Caddick for four, Tendulkar read the fast bowler's mind. Waiting on the back foot for a ball he knew would be short, the highest run scorer in World Cup history pulled a huge six.

Such devastation led to Flintoff's introduction. The Lancashire all-rounder has lacked rhythm ­ following a double hernia ­ but yesterday he deserved better than 2 for 15 in 10 quality overs. With his third ball, Flintoff took the wicket he desperately needed when Sehwag chipped a leading edge back to the bowler. In his fourth over he took the wicket England wanted most ­ Tendulkar. After reaching 50, the right-hander tried to force a ball off the back foot that bounced and it flew to Collingwood in the gully.

Following Tendulkar's departure India's innings came to a standstill. In 20 overs they scored just 58 runs and it was only the loss of Dinesh Mongia, which heralded a frantic finale. This was led by Yuvraj Singh, who smashed 42 off just 38 balls, and Dravid who at last upped the tempo. That the last four balls of India's innings produced wickets ­ three catches off Caddick surrounded a run out ­ was irrelevant. India had added 100 runs in the last 15 overs and they proved vital.

KINGSMEAD SCOREBOARD

India won toss

INDIA
V Sehwag c and b Flintoff 23
S R Tendulkar c Collingwood b Flintoff 50
S C Ganguly c Trescothick b White 19
D Mongia lbw b Collingwood 32
R S Dravid c Collingwood b Caddick 62
Yuvraj Singh c Hussain b Anderson 42
M Kaif c Flintoff b Caddick 5
Harbhajan Singh not out 0
Zaheer Khan run out (Stewart) 0
J Srinath c Trescothick b Caddick 0
Extras (b1, lb4, w9, nb3) 17
Total (for 9, 223 min, 50 overs) 250

Fall: 1-60 (Sehwag), 2-91 (Tendulkar), 3-107 (Ganguly), 4-155 (Mongia), 5-217 (Yuvraj Singh), 6-250 (Kaif), 7-250 (Dravid), 8-250 (Zaheer Khan), 9-250 (Srinath).

Did not bat: A Nehra.

Bowling: Caddick 10-0-69-3 (nb2, w3) (6-0-47-0, 3-0-19-0, 1-0-3-3); Anderson 10-0-61-1 (w5) (4-0-26-0, 2-0-4-0, 2-0-10-0, 2-0-21-1), Flintoff 10-2-15-2 (w1) (one spell); White 10-0-57-1 (nb1) (2-0-13-0, 6-0-23-1, 1-0-12-0, 1-0-9-0); Irani 6-0-28-0; Collingwood 4-0-15-1 (one spell each).

Progress: 50: 40 min, 52 balls. 15 overs score: 91-1. 100: 101 min, 125 balls. 150: 158 min, 214 balls. 200: 192 min, 269 balls. 250: 216 min, 299 balls.

Tendulkar 50: 72 min, 50 balls, 8 fours, 1 six. Dravid 50: 103 min, 66 balls, 2 fours, 1 six.

ENGLAND
M E Trescothick c Tendulkar b Zaheer Khan 8
N V Knight run out (Kaif) 1
M P Vaughan c Dravid b Nehra 20
N Hussain c Dravid b Nehra 15
A J Stewart lbw b Nehra 0
P D Collingwood c Sehwag b Nehra 18
A Flintoff c Sehwag b Nehra 64
C White c Dravid b Nehra 13
R C Irani c Sehwag b Nehra 0
A R Caddick not out 13
J M Anderson lbw b Zaheer Khan 2
Extras (lb5, w7, nb2) 14
Total (212 min, 45.3 overs) 168

Fall: 1-6 (Knight), 2-18 (Trescothick), 3-52 (Hussain), 4-52 (Stewart), 5-62 (Vaughan), 6-93 (Collingwood), 7-107 (White), 8-107 (Irani), 9-162 (Flintoff), 10-168 (Anderson).

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 9.3-1-29-2 (w3) (6-1-14-1 2-0-12-0 1.3-0-3-1), Srinath 10-0-37-1 (w1) (7-0-21-0 3-0-16-1), Nehra 10-2-23-6 (one spell), Ganguly 6-0-34-0 (nb2) (4-0-19-0 2-0-15-0), Harbhajan Singh 10-0-40-0 (w3) (one spell).

Progress: 15 overs score: 45-2. 50: 76 min, 95 balls. 100:135 min, 169 balls. 150: 192 min, 249 balls.

Flintoff 50: 84 min, 63 balls, 3 fours, 3 sixes.

Result: India won by 82 runs

Umpires: R E Koertzen and S J A Taufel TV Replay Umpire: E A R de Silva,

Match Referee: R S Madugalle.

Man of the match: A Nehra