Close England 250 for 7 (Collingwood 71*, Vaughan 63, Hussain 46) beat India 234 (Mongia 49, Tendulkar 45, Gough 3-46) by 16 runs
scorecard

Three run-outs - one of them unfortunate, two plain careless - cost India dear and allowed England to square the six-match series at 1-1. With India 99 for 1, Sachin Tendulkar, who had been easing himself through the gears, was run out by a deflection at the non-striker's end. It was the start of an England-style slump of 5 for 48 - including two more run-outs - and although Ajay Ratra gave India a brief glimmer, they were never able to recover.

Darren Gough cleaned up the tail, but the donkey work had been done earlier in the day when Paul Collingwood and Michael Vaughan struck powerful, thoughtful half-centuries to lay the basis for a total that was about par on a wicket that was firm but slow.

It meant that India required five an over on a pitch that had lost all its early-morning moisture but turned out to be a touch more sluggish than had been expected. Sourav Ganguly got them off to a mini-flier with three boundaries - two flashed through point, one nudged to long leg - in Darren Gough's first two overs, but when Matthew Hoggard got one to move away, Ganguly edged straight to Nick Knight at second slip for 14 (20 for 1).

Tendulkar drove Gough to the boundary twice in two balls - first through extra-cover, then straighter - but had a narrow escape when an edge off Hoggard bounced just in front of Marcus Trescothick at slip. England missed a more clear-cut chance in the next over, Andrew Flintoff's first, when Knight parried Dinesh Mongia's edge out of reach of Trescothick, who was diving to his left at first slip in readiness for the catch. Mongia, who made a sparkling 71 at Calcutta, had just 2 at the time and he set about making England pay, twice creaming Hoggard through extra cover in one over.

Flintoff's first spell was an admirable 5-0-9-0, but India were milking the other end with ease. So the dismissal of Tendulkar came as a bolt from the Cuttack blue. Mongia, in charge now, hit a firm straight-drive but Ben Hollioake, fielding off his own bowling, dived and diverted the ball onto the stumps at the non-striker's end with Tendulkar yards out of his crease (99 for 2). An eerie silence shrouded the ground as Tendulkar trudged off for 45. The game had turned.

Quite how much wasn't immediately apparent. But now India started to do some strange things. VVS Laxman dawdled over a single and was run out for 3 by Collingwood's throw to James Foster from backward point (112 for 3); Virender Sehwag dragged Gough to Knight at midwicket for 5 (121 for 4); Mongia failed to ground his bat properly as he dived to complete the second run that would have brought him a fifty and was beaten by Flintoff's throw from deep square leg (130 for 5); and Hemang Badani went for 4, skying Hollioake to mid-on where Flintoff celebrated with a rugby-style punt back into the heavens (147 for 6).

Surely that was it. But no: Ajay Ratra, in only his second one-day international, and Ajit Agarkar scythed and swiped to add a quickfire 32. Ratra was trapped lbw by the returning Flintoff for 30 (179 for 7), and when Jeremy Snape won another plumb decision against Harbhajan Singh, who missed an ugly sweep to depart for 6, India were 186 for 8.

Surely that was it. Er, not quite. Agarkar and Anil Kumble now joined forces to take the score to 224 in the 47th over, at which point Kumble (20) slogged Gough to midwicket where Collingwood coolly clung on over his shoulder. That was Gough's 150th ODI wicket - a landmark no other Englishman has reached. The equation was now an unlikely 20 from two, and soon after Agarkar, on 29, edged a drive off Gough to Foster and India were all out. The crowd melted away despondently as the centre of the pitch turned into a bright-blue huddle. It was 1-1 and the series was still alive.

England owed their total of 250 for 7 to two cracking half-centuries from Michael Vaughan, who made a mockery of his previous one-day best of 26, and Paul Collingwood, who looks better every time he bats for England. After both openers had been caught on the leg side (Trescothick at square leg off Agarkar for 13, Knight at deep backward square off Javagal Srinath for 14) to reduce England to 45 for 2, Vaughan and Nasser Hussain rebuilt the innings, first with bricks and mortar, then with strokes of real artistry. Hussain attacked the spinners as he did in the Test series, and Vaughan unveiled a confident new sweep shot that probably owed something to Trescothick's epic 121 at Calcutta.

The running bordered on brinkmanship, but it was to a rush of blood that Hussain eventually perished. Eager to expose India's weakest link, he failed to lift Sourav Ganguly high enough over deep mid-on and was caught for 46, from 54 balls (114 for 3). Collingwood joined Vaughan, who moved to an innovative 59-ball fifty, and set about the spinners: he cut and whipped Kumble for boundaries and mowed Tendulkar for six, with a little help from the third umpire, as Harbhajan took a sensational one-handed catch but had to let it go again in a vain effort to prevent his momentum from carrying it over the rope.

The dismissal of Vaughan, run out for 63 (176 for 4) after hesitating fatally over a single, sparked a potentially disastrous wobble. Flintoff continued his passing acquaintance with Indian scoreboards when he was bowled by Harbhajan for 5, slogging across the line (190 for 5); and Hollioake (0) was made to look stupid by a straight one from Kumble that went through a generous gate (190 for 5).

Now Collingwood showed his authority, and Snape clung onto his coat-tails. Collingwood raced to a 55-ball half-century when he bashed Kumble over midwicket for four, then lifted Agarkar over wide mid-on for six. Snape was run out for 22 in the rush for late runs, but England had put on their third fifty-partnership of the innings and had given themselves enough to play with.

Even so, India were marginal favourites when they started, and the odds had shortened when the dismissal of Tendulkar changed the direction of the game. This time, it was India who choked. This series could be lost as much as it is won. Teams India 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Dinesh Mongia, 5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Hemang Badani, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Javagal Srinath. England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Nick Knight, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Michael Vaughan, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Ben Hollioake, 8 Jeremy Snape, 9 James Foster (wk), 10 Darren Gough, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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