HAMILTON, New Zealand (Reuters)
England's coach Duncan Fletcher heaped praise on Andy Flintoff and Owais Shah after they guided the England XI to a five-wicket win over Northern Districts.

"Flintoff can change the game in a couple of overs and put pressure on the fielding side," said Fletcher said after Flintoff had top-scored with 45 and picked up three wickets in England's second one-day warm-up match. "He can do that in the internationals and he's a great asset."

Chasing a modest 161 for victory, England stumbled to 96 for 5 before an unbeaten 67-run partnership between Flintoff and Shah (29 not out) took them home.

"Owais played well," said Fletcher. "It's nice to know the middle order has someone who can buckle down and take us through."

New Zealand-born Andy Caddick, who conceded 104 runs for just one wicket in the two games, also received Fletcher's backing.

"Andy knows he's a better bowler than that, and we know he is," said Fletcher. "He will be all right and it could be that he was trying too hard being back on home soil."

The win provided a timely boost for England, who lost the first match against Northern Districts by three wickets on Friday after former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull clouted a quickfire 80 off 47 balls.

"New Zealand are playing at home and they are very competitive," said Fletcher. "They always seem to lift their game playing against England, and look to be a very tight unit. We have shown in India we are also a tight unit and I can see this series being very close.

"We should have won that match on Friday, but our bowlers didn't really think about what they needed to do. They needed to vary things a bit. Doull batted brilliantly. There's not a lot a bowler can do when a batsman is belting you for 80 off 40-odd balls, but I think they thought he would get out eventually and didn't work hard enough to get him out."

The first one-day international, a day/night match, is to be played at Christchurch on Wednesday, February 13.

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