Flintoff's return to form gives England a fighting chance

All-rounder's ability to turn game may be crucial against Australian side stunning statisticians

England did not lose Wednesday's crucial World Cup qualifying match in Durban because the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, called correctly at the toss. Nasser Hussain's side left KwaZulu Natal well beaten because England's five-man all-pace attack, were outgunned by India's.

Under the lights at Kingsmead, in one of the finest displays of fast bowling I have seen, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath raced in for India and bowled beautifully. They consistently hit the 90mph mark and, through combining speed and an aggressive intent with control, they made England's chase of 250 look hapless. Yes, there was a bit more zip in the pitch after sunset but there was also some assistance in it for England's bowlers, had they put the ball in the right place more often.

This is not the first time during this tournament that England's batsmen have been on the wrong end of such venom. In Cape Town last Saturday the Pakistani pace man Shoaib Akhtar became the first bowler officially to break the 100mph mark. However, England's batsman, when discussing their defeat over a glass of South African ale, felt the three Indian quick bowlers had hit the bat harder than Shoaib.

There is no doubt pace is a valuable commodity and it is something that the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, wants as much of as he can, but it has to be channelled in the right areas, as Shoaib's figures of 1 for 63 in nine overs against England show.

The reason England's batsmen felt 90mph is quicker than 100mph is because of the extra bounce the taller Indian bowlers managed to extract from the pitch. This bounce, which is as important as pace, means the ball hits the bat higher up than the batsman would like. Scoring freely is very hard when this occurs.

England's pace men, however, other than Andrew Flintoff who was in the high 80s, were around the 85mph mark or below. This lack of pace, along with the fact that Andrew Caddick, James Anderson and Craig White bowled too many bad balls, is why the Indian batsman could take extra liberties against Hussain's attack.

The one plus to come out of England's defeat was the return to form of Flintoff. In an ordinary England performance the Lancashire all-rounder stood waist and shoulders above his colleagues and, without his aggressive but controlled effort, with both bat and ball, the margin of defeat would have been embarrassing.

However, the 25-year-old attempted to talk down a score of 64 and excellent figures of 2 for 15 in 10 overs. " I haven't really sat down and thought about my performance last night," Flintoff said after a subdued England arrived here to prepare for their match against Australia on Sunday. "All I realise is that England got beat by India. I may have put in a decent performance, but it is the team that counts irrespective of how I play and I am disappointed we lost. We are trying to win games for England and I would have sooner got 0 for 80 and had a first-ball duck if England were to win the match."

Deep down, though, Flintoff must be delighted again to have shown people what he is capable of because, up until yesterday, he has had a horrendous winter. On Wednesday it was six months to the day since the England all-rounder walked off the field at Headingley beaten, injured and with a pair to his name. Following that Test match, against India in August 2002, Flintoff had surgery on a double hernia and it has taken him until this week to return to the form he was showing with the ball last summer.

If England are to achieve anything from this World Cup they need Flintoff to fire because he and Marcus Trescothick, who looks horribly out of form, are the only two players that can turn a game on its head in half an hour. In full flow, he can destroy an attack with his brutal and simple approach to batting. There are few in the game who can hit the ball harder or further.

Consistency is the ingredient which has been lacking in his England career to date but, after 51 one-day internationals, he should be putting in performances like Wednesday's on a more regular basis. So far he has scored 974 runs at an average of 24.35 and taken 44 wickets at 28.1. To some, such statistics may look reasonable, but for a player of his potential more is expected.

One senses that the inability to establish himself as an international player frustrates him, but he does not want to admit it. "I work hard at my game and am trying to improve," he said "I think I am going in the right direction"

A hundred and a five-wicket haul against Australia would go a long way to fulfilling his undoubted talent.

* Nick Knight had a pain-killing injection for a cyst in his right shin yesterday, but should be fit to face Australia on Sunday.