CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, 8 November 2003 — Andrew Flintoff took four for 14 and then hammered a quickfire half-century as England crushed Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first One-Day International yesterday.
The Lancashire all-rounder, whose figures of four for 14 off 9.4 overs were his best in one-dayers, helped bowl out the hosts for 143 after five top-order wickets fell for a single run.
England then knocked off the runs in 25.3 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
There was only one English hiccup when quick bowler Mushfiqur Rahman grabbed two wickets off successive balls to get rid of openers Marcus Trescothick (28) and Vikram Solanki (10) with 39 on the board.
Captain Michael Vaughan followed soon after, stumped for nine while sweeping off Manjural Islam to give the left-arm spinner a wicket in his first over in One-Day Internationals. But Flintoff settled the issue by hammering his ninth half-century off 45 balls, reaching the mark with an emphatic pull to the mid-wicket fence.
He finished with 55 not out, 48 of those runs coming in boundaries — nine fours and two sixes — and shared in an unbroken 91-run stand with Paul Collingwood (36).
“I’m very satisfied,” Vaughan told reporters. “A win in 25 overs is always very convincing, we couldn’t have asked for more.
“Flintoff was fabulous.”
Earlier, Bangladesh, opting to bat, had reached 65 for two in the 17th over before caving in dramatically. Fourteen balls later they were 66 for seven.
Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles (three for 29) triggered the slide, having Rajin Saleh (2) top-edge a sweep straight to Rikki Clarke at short-leg.
In the next over, opener Hannan Sarkar, on 30, attempted to hook Flintoff and gloved to wicketkeeper Chris Read, before captain Khaled Mahmud was also caught behind off his second ball. Alok Kapali also went for a duck, lasting three balls as he departed lbw to Giles, missing a straight delivery pitched on off stump.
The spinner then scooped up a fine diving return catch low to his left to remove Rahman, also for nought. “I haven’t witnessed anything quite like that collapse before,” Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said.
