England cruise to victory

LONDON – England clinched the one-day international series against India on Saturday with a seven-wicket victory in the seventh and final match at Lord’s.

After India’s thrilling run chase at the Oval on Wednesday had levelled the series at 3-3, Saturday’s eagerly-awaited clash fizzled into anti-climax after India were bowled out for 187. England lost openers Luke Wright and Matthew Prior for ducks to raise hopes among the thousands of India fans in a sell-out crowd but unbeaten knocks of 71 from Kevin Pietersen and 64 from captain Paul Collingwood guided them home with 13 overs to spare.Andrew Flintoff, who returned to the England side after passing a fitness test on his ankle, and Dimitri Mascarenhas both took three wickets Rahul Dravid had won the toss and elected to bat.Only Mahrendra Singh Dhoni’s belligerent 50 salvaged some respectability for India who never recovered from a ragged start which had them reeling at 59 for four.”We didn’t get enough runs, if we had got 250 it would have been interesting but all credit to England, they bowled very well,” Dravid, who was dismissed by Flintoff without scoring, told reporters.Collingwood said he was proud of his relatively inexperienced England side during the series.”For a young set of boys to go out there and win the series gives them a lot of confidence, gives us all a lot of confidence for what we could do in the future,” he told reporters.Nampa-AFPEngland lost openers Luke Wright and Matthew Prior for ducks to raise hopes among the thousands of India fans in a sell-out crowd but unbeaten knocks of 71 from Kevin Pietersen and 64 from captain Paul Collingwood guided them home with 13 overs to spare.Andrew Flintoff, who returned to the England side after passing a fitness test on his ankle, and Dimitri Mascarenhas both took three wickets Rahul Dravid had won the toss and elected to bat.Only Mahrendra Singh Dhoni’s belligerent 50 salvaged some respectability for India who never recovered from a ragged start which had them reeling at 59 for four.”We didn’t get enough runs, if we had got 250 it would have been interesting but all credit to England, they bowled very well,” Dravid, who was dismissed by Flintoff without scoring, told reporters.Collingwood said he was proud of his relatively inexperienced England side during the series.”For a young set of boys to go out there and win the series gives them a lot of confidence, gives us all a lot of confidence for what we could do in the future,” he told reporters.Nampa-AFP