Six years after his debut, and after three Tests and 16 one-day internationals, Ronnie Irani finally made his first half-century for England. His 53 was a slightly odd affair, in that he managed to score at virtually a run a ball (he faced 55) despite hitting only two fours and a six. Boundaries accounted for only 26% of his runs; by contrast, the figure for Andy Flintoff was 59%. Irani's quickfire display was out of character with his ODI career to date - his strike-rate with the bat is actually lower than that of Nasser Hussain, who has had plenty of criticism for scoring too slowly.

Our graph shows where Irani scored his runs, with his most profitable area between cover and long-off. That included one sweet, flat six off Yuvraj Singh. But apart from that shot, Irani was more comfortable against seam than spin. He hustled 18 off 13 balls off the seamers (equivalent to 8.3 per over), as compared to 35 off 42 balls (or exactly 5 an over) when facing the spinners.

Then came Irani's turn with the ball. He took 5 for 26, the best figures by an Englishman in an ODI in England. And in his 16th appearance, Irani doubled his wickets tally. All in all, it was a very good day at the office.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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