There were two pieces of good news for England. First Sachin Tendulkar scored a hundred - his 32nd in one-dayers, but his first against England, and his first not as an opener, discounting one against Kenya - yet it didn't bring victory. It might not have done so even if it hadn't rained. Secondly, England found a couple of mid-innings stranglers with the ball, and they were rather unlikely bowling heroes. Ronnie Irani is having a vintage season, scoring runs galore for Essex and taking wickets too - his haul of 20 in the Benson & Hedges Cup was a new seasonal record for that competition. But not many people expected Irani's bowling to be much of a factor up among the big boys.

But it hasn't turned out quite like that. First Irani dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for 1 at Lord's, only slightly spoiling the moment by falling flat on his face at the same time. And today, at Chester-le-Street, Irani bustled through his ten overs for only 23 runs. He didn't get Tendulkar this time, but he did bowl to him - and Rahul Dravid - throughout, and throttled those two to the tune of two runs an over.

His bowling doesn't look much - chest-on, all arm and arcing swing - but it was well-aimed. This was a fine performance from a whole-hearted character, who might just have done enough to ensure a place in the England parties for the one-day series in Australia and the World Cup.

There was a surprise at the other end, too. There was a time when if you said Flintoff was tight people would be looking for the nearest bar, but now the slimmed-down Fred is a reformed character, and his bowling is refreshed too: ten overs for 36 here.

There was a down side for England, though. The rest of the bowling was nowhere near as miserly, especially poor Paul Collingwood. Anxious to impress on his home ground, he was clattered for 48 runs in five overs. Ashley Giles (5-0-41-0) wasn't much better. And James Kirtley didn't relish the Riverside, disappearing for 77 runs in his ten-over spell.

Room for improvement there, then. But at least the middle overs seem to be in good hands. Add a dash of Caddick to a revitalised Gough, and you have a handy bowling attack.

Steven Lynch is database director of Wisden.com

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