England Are Powered By Irani

This was Ronnie Irani's day of days. With a World Cup place up for grabs and a point to prove he produced one of the finest all-round performances in the history of limited-overs internationals.

Only Graeme Hick of Englishmen, and just eight others besides, have managed a half-century and five wickets in the same match, and now Irani has joined them, hitting 53 of England's 229 for eight in a match reduced to 32 overs a side, and then taking five for 26 in his quota of seven overs, including the last three wickets at no cost in five balls. He even bowled the only maiden over of the match and if he stopped on the way home to buy a lottery ticket, he will probably be a millionaire by tonight.

It led to an overwhelming 64-run win for England in a match that, on the face of it, had no consequence, both teams having already reached Saturday's final, but which demanded and got from the home side a performance a world away from their dismal effort at Old Trafford earlier in the week.

It might have been even more emphatic had Anil Kumble not decided to carry on batting with a pulled calf muscle and a runner. The last-wicket partnership of 38 with Ashish Nehra was the highest of the innings, and held England up until Irani, inevitably, held a nifty catch right on the long on rope to finish things off.

Only Virender Sehwag, who smashed 46 from 41 balls at the start, and Sachin Tendulkar with 36 from 29, offered any competition as Irani, aided by an outstanding display of wicketkeeping up to the stumps by Alec Stewart, swept them away.

Perhaps Irani is one of those fortunate cricketers; maybe his force of personality makes things happen. Bowling the 10th over of the innings, it took him three balls to get his first wicket, when Sehwag hung his bat out like a line of washing and was caught by Stewart, and the rest followed with Youvraj Singh brilliantly stumped down the legside, Mohammad Kaif bowled off his pads, Ajay Ratra nicking to Stewart again, and Ajit Agarkar clipping the next ball to midwicket. If every dog has its day this was Irani winning Crufts.

For their total, England relied on the half-centuries from the Big Boys, Andy Flintoff and Irani, plus 31 from Nick Knight and 30 in just 17 balls from Michael Vaughan, including a six off Zaheer Khan, flicked over square leg much as Viv Richards might have done. They also finished their innings in style, Darren Gough smearing a six over midwicket off the final delivery.

The sheer weight of stroke used by Irani and Flintoff, coming in at the fall of the first two wickets as they had done in the Headingley match, served them well as they added 76 in 67 balls for the third wicket before Flintoff mistimed a pull over long on and was caught by Nehra. Flintoff may be making an attempt to acquire beanpole status but he has lost none of his strength to go with the leverage obtained from his height. Kumble was clubbed over midwicket for six and there were half a dozen fours besides in his 38-ball innings of 51.

Meanwhile Irani, possessor of a pair of legs through which could be driven a span of oxen, continues to get involved like a hyperactive kid. He was handed responsibility up the order and he responded excellently, his bottom hand like a pile driver.

He should have been stumped by Ratra off Yuvraj's left-arm spin when 38, but survived to send the next ball skimming flat over long on for six, finally reaching his first international half-century from 53 balls before he was bowled. Earlier he and Vaughan had added 48 in only 29 balls for the fourth wicket.

Anyone who thought of invading the pitch, even in congratulation would have been discouraged by the news that the quartet who have done so this summer now have criminal records and their DNA in the files. That seems a bit harsh: Deck Of Cards was a criminal record but you can bet no one took Wink Martindale's.