England salvaged some pride from their miserable tour of Australia by beating New Zealand by 14 runs at the Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday to join the hosts in the tri-series one-day international finals.
Paul Collingwood survived a dropped catch on 18 to make 106 while Andrew Strauss made his best score of the series with 55 as England recovered from a shaky start to amass a respectable total of 270 for seven from their 50 overs. New Zealand replied sharply, racing to 169-2 in the 34th over, but wilted under pressure, losing six for 63 to finish with 256-8.
"We're still improving and we're still here," all-rounder Andrew Flintoff said in a televised interview after England's second win in a row and only their third of the tour against international opposition. "Everyone wrote us off a few weeks ago but we got better and today the lads played fantastic."
New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said his team only had themselves to blame for the loss. The Kiwis dropped vital catches in the field and panicked when the required run-rate started to climb above seven an over.
Fleming scored his first hundred in three years with 106 off 149 balls but his slow progress left the tailend with too much to do while he was involved in a mix-up that ran out the dangerous Ross Taylor for 25.
"We're starting to play some good cricket but we're not quite there," Fleming said. "We just kept giving them wickets at crucial times and the run out of Ross Taylor was probably a turning point because he's capable of increasing the scoring rate. "We'll cop a little bit (of criticism) at home and rightly so...but we'll just have to toughen up."
England were struggling at 52-3 in the 14th over after returning skipper Michael Vaughan was bowled by Shane Bond for a duck with a perfect inswinging yorker and Ian Bell (12) and Ed Joyce (26) both went cheaply. But Strauss and Collingwood steadied the innings with a careful display with a 103 run partnership for the fourth wicket before the low order pushed the total past 250.
Strauss struck three fours and a six to end a disappointing run of failures with the bat while Collingwood survived a dropped catch from Jacob Oram to record his third one-day international hundred.
"It was a good toss to win but we still played some good cricket," said Vaughan. "We've got a bit of fighting spirit in this team and a week can be a long time in cricket with the way we've played in the last two games."
England's hopes of making the finals, with the World Cup in the West Indies only a month away, seemed doomed a week ago when they lost their fourth match in a row. However a surprise win against Australia last Friday set up the prospect of a sudden-death showdown with the Kiwis.
"I think the lads have to take the last two performances and take the momentum from the last two games," Vaughan told a news conference. "If we can reproduce that sort of performance then we can put Australia under pressure.
"We want to win the finals and we want to end the tour on a good note," he added. The first final against Australia is at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday with the second in Sydney two days later. A third game is scheduled for Adelaide next Tuesday if the series is tied at 1-1.
SCOREBOARD:
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England innings
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E.Joyce c McCullum b Franklin 26
M.Vaughan b Bond 0
I.Bell c Styris b Bond 12
A.Strauss b Styris 55
P.Collingwood b Bond 106
A.Flintoff c Franklin b Bond 17
J.Dalrymple not out 29
P.Nixon b Gillespie 0
L.Plunkett not out 15
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Extras: (lb-4 w-3 nb-3) 10
Total: (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 270
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Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-28 3-52 4-155 5-191 6-250 7-251
Did not bat: S.Mahmood, M.Panesar
Bowling: Franklin 8-1-45-1 (nb-2), Bond 10-2-46-4 (w-3), Gillespie 10-0-52-1 (nb-1), Oram 7-0-36-0, Vettori 6-0-37-0, Styris 9-0-50-1
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New Zealand innings
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L.Vincent c Flintoff b Panesar 31
S.Fleming c Nixon b Flintoff 106
P.Fulton c Bell b Plunkett 12
R.Taylor run out 25
S.Styris c Panesar b Collingwood 16
J.Oram c Nixon b Plunkett 5
B.McCullum b Plunkett 2
D.Vettori c Vaughan b Collingwood 10
J.Franklin not out 22
S.Bond not out 8
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Extras: (b-1 lb-3 w-15) 19
Total: (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 256
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