Hussain's example inspires England

India A 233-9 dec and 109 England 170 and 173-7 England win by three wickets

By beating India A in the "Pink City", England won what may prove to be their last match on this ill-fated tour. Although the deadline given by the International Cricket Council to the Indian Board's president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, has shifted, England will still arrive in Mohali, the venue for the first Test, not knowing whether to unpack their gear.

The Virender Sehwag issue has done cricket's reputation serious damage and yesterday the batsman spoke for the first time about the ban handed to him by the match referee, Mike Denness.

"I am very unhappy about it as my century on my debut has been forgotten about," Sehwag said. "It was depressing sitting out the third Test in South Africa, but why should a ban destroy my happiness? I don't want to be in the news for the wrong reasons, I just want to play in the first Test against England."

According to Lord MacLaurin, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, England will not play the match, due to start on Monday, unless Sehwag is deselected. This will not be resolved until tomorrow's "final summit meeting" in the neutral venue of Kuala Lumpur, though, given both the ICC's and the ECB's lack of sharp teeth, few will be surprised if this is extended until Sunday.

This grotesque ping-pong must have distracted England's preparation for the series, though Duncan Fletcher, the coach, reckoned yesterday that was not a matter the players need concern themselves with. "We are here to play cricket and have a difficult task ahead of us here in India," said Fletcher, who also confirmed that the team would travel to Mohali.

Fletcher added: "The problem has been a slight distraction, but we are professional cricketers. We won here with it going on, so maybe we need a bit more distraction."

Victory, so elusive in their other two games, will have boosted England's morale ahead of Mohali, though they still had a wobble or two achieving it. Perhaps more telling with a five-day Test looming is that they followed their worst day of the tour with their best, recording a three-wicket victory, when 24 hours earlier only defeat had looked likely. Inconsistency that extreme rarely wins, or even saves, Test matches.

"It was the first day where we didn't play in patches, but put in a unified performance," Fletcher said. "I think we played well on a very tricky pitch and have shown definite improvements." He was particularly pleased with Andrew Flintoff, who arrived here just five days ago.

Flintoff weighed in with strong supporting performances with both bat and ball, his dual role almost outshining Craig White's 5 for 31 and Nasser Hussain's determined 59, an innings that all but won the game.

Swinging his bat like a battle axe, Flintoff's brisk 40 contained six fours and a six. He also put the frighteners up the batsmen as he charged in with the ball, and few had the pluck to get into line once he had found bounce from an awkward length.

On slow dusty turners, Indian batsmen are world beaters, but get the ball into their ribs at pace and often the rubber in their wrists moves to their legs. The only problem is that this was a rogue pitch, and the Test venues scheduled will produce nothing comparable.

White, too, showed he still has enough torque in his torso to hustle it through and it was his assault in the second innings here, following two largely uneventful games trying to re-invent himself as a medium-pacer, which set up the win after the home side were dismissed for 109. According to Fletcher, White's gradual release of the mental handbrake has been deliberate, and here he began to approach the 90mph mark touched last winter.

Kulamani Parida, a fine stroke player, was beaten for pace as he skied a pull, while Ajay Ratra simply looked bemused when his stumps were flattened next ball. White also did England's batsmen a service by putting the all-rounder Reetender Sodhi beyond action after striking him on the right hand. On the second day, Sodhi, a well-built Sikh, had bowled well and yesterday India A badly missed his accurate seamers.

Even without Sodhi in the attack, England were by no means favourites to chase the 173 required for victory. The absence of Michael Vaughan, with a stomach upset, and the failure of Mark Butcher, caught at short leg, means Marcus Trescothick's opening partner is still not settled. So far, Vaughan has looked good but not got the runs, while Butcher has scratched about like a neurotic hen but has twice passed thirty.

England's most consistent batsman has been Hussain. With his young side about him, the skipper has led admirably by both word and deed. With a lowest score of 38 so far, the only valid criticism that can be levelled against him is a wasteful habit of getting himself out. It was a point he confirmed yesterday, after being stumped trying to smash the ball into the camel pen outside the ground.

Hussain enjoyed one break when the opening bowler Iqbal Siddiqui, almost as big a surprise in the Test squad as the banned batsman Sehwag, caught him on the hook at long leg. Back-pedalling furiously under the skier, Siddiqui made a clean catch, but, realising his momentum would take him over the boundary, threw the ball away before he crossed the line.

With Siddiqui claiming the catch, it took a few well chosen words from Hussain to the umpires to point out that the law requires both ball and catcher to be under control for a catch to be clean. In this instance only one was, and then not for long.