England win natwest series final

[Auwais BARTHEZ]

England beat South Africa by 7 wickets.
South Africa were out done by the brilliance of England's bowling and were bowled out for only 107.Chasing 108,England batted well and duo Anthony McGrath and Andrew Flintoff steered England to victory.

South Africa's innings

 

[Auwais BARTHEZ]

England's innings

 

[Auwais BARTHEZ]

After-match details

 

[Auwais BARTHEZ]

Post your views on the final and/or the whole series.

 

[vetts]

Flintoff is fast becoming the gun player of this england team. I would've like to see how england would have chased a larger total, but the bowlers just did too well! The RSA batsmen really played bad though.. there wasn't really that much in the pitch. So England have two oneday tropheys in there summer already, and they're only rebuilding... They do need some batsmen to stand up in the near future, as there batting sometimes looks shakey. Good luck to them and well played, i say!
<img src='http://www-usa.cricket.org/link_to_database/PICTURES/DB/072003/045413.jpg[/img]

 

[jonah]

England have done well chasing this summer..the 265 at the Oval underlines that. The white new ball is hard to play over here in England (once the hardness has worn off batting seems easier) so there will more often than not be early wickets. I agree though with Vetts that the batting line-up needs a little work. Solanki looks good, although I'd rather he came it at 3 or 4, and have Vaughan open with Tres. Jury's out on McGrath in ODI's for me. I'd still like to see Thorpe brought back in to strengthen the middle order (although I would say that wouldn't I Zim? ), as Troughton struggled a little. Read did well with both gloves and bat, a call up for the Tests? As for the bowling, it seems to be going from strength to strength. Anderson has proved he's in for the long ride, Goughie is getting back to his best. Johnson and Harmison both did well, although Harmison needs to tighten up his line a little. I'd have liked to have seen Kabir Ali given a chance, and we've still got Hoggard in the sidelines, with Simon Jones progressing well with his injury comeback. The one problem area in the bowling is spin. OK, Giles took a couple today, but IMO he doesn't give the ball enough rip so consequently is more of a container than a wicket taker. Oh for a Warne, Murali or Harbhajan!
And what more needs to be said about Freddie, the player of the series? The most economical bowler in the WC has carried on his great form with the ball, and when batting, if he gets in...watch out! Catch of the series too.
All in all, things look promising for England on the ODI front. Now for the Tests...

 

[T20]

congrats to England..a turnaround from last years result :P

 

[jonah]

Lol, you had to get that one in S. If we could've got Kaif or Yuvraj out, we'd have wrapped it up, no problem ...

 

[T20]

on the other hand, India went on to reach WC finals after that..so may be a India-England final in 2007? and hopefully Yuvraj and Kaif won't have to bat this time

 

[Rangeela]

congrats to England

 

[sonic]

ok a few beers were sunk and somehow I've managed to get my head completely shaved in the process, I really can't see much at the moment so I'm going to bed and see what the damage is like in the morning...hopefully I shall see straight then...no doubt it will be worse than I think :blink:

 

[crick4life]

Well played England, they indeed look good for future. The coming of age of Flintoff, Goughie's comeback alongwith big scores from ever reliable Tresco will go a long way in injecting much needed enthusiasm in the team. Although I too feel Thrope will add consistency in the middle order, he is a class batsman and certainly needs a call up. The bench is still good and they should fight to get into the team which is ideal, Is Rod Marsh as one of the selector made the difference? Why not opt for this lad Blackwell instead of Giles, he performed well against the OZs and I reckon he can bat well too. I also dont really like the idea of different captains for tests and ODIs. All in all it augurs well for future and I sincerely wish to see England to win the test series as well. This turnaround will help balance the teams well and will render every series interesting(Ofcourse the OZs play at a different level, they should be asked to rest for a couple of years).

 

[jonah]

sonic, watch out for your baldie head in this hot weather . I too have that style (not completely shaved, more like Vialli after a couple of days growth), so I'm talking from experience!!

Ravi, I agree about Blackwell. Not sure why he's been neglected so far this year. And yes, I think Rod Marsh and the Academy has done wonders in bringing the youngsters through.

 

[vetts]

Well i think Giles is definately the better bowler of the two, but Blackwell would probably be more valuable to the one-day team. He's a good pinch hitter, and his bowling can be pretty good. With Englands youth policy, surely he should be looked at for the ODI team in the near future.

 

[sonic]

Originally posted by jonah@Jul 13 2003, 09:43 AM
sonic, watch out for your baldie head in this hot weather . I too have that style (not completely shaved, more like Vialli after a couple of days growth), so I'm talking from experience!!

Yeah its kinda growing on me this new look, I'm just gonna try and stay out of the sun for a copule of days cos I could end up a red head...you look like vialli?! But wasn't Vialli naturally balding?...so, is your hair line receeding also? I think I may keep it like this as its nice and cool, especially in this hot weather....right, time for a cold beer....