Wales 191 for 2 (James 83*, Hemp 57, Kirtley 2-37) beat England 189 for 9 (Stewart 39, Trescothick 38, Thomas 2-24, Croft 2-36) by eight wickets Any complacency that England's one-day squad might have had ahead of the NatWest series was blown clean out of the water at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, as they slumped to an embarrassing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Wales.

In the first-ever "international" between the two countries, England - led by Marcus Trescothick in the absence of Nasser Hussain - managed a pitiful 189 for 9 in their 50 overs, and were powerless to prevent Wales from strolling home with more than nine overs to spare.

Robert Croft, fresh from his 56-ball hundred in the C&G Trophy against Surrey, set Wales on their way with a 26-ball 30, before David Hemp (57) and Steve James (83 not out) broke the back of the run-chase with a 132-run partnership for the second wicket. With victory in sight, Hemp was bowled by James Kirtley, and it was left to that renowned Welshman, Jacques Kallis, to knock off the remaining runs.

Kirtley, who picked up 2 for 37 on his return to the side, was the pick of the bowlers, but his new-ball partner, Matthew Hoggard, had a day to forget. Lacking any sort of rhythm, he sent down eight no-balls and two wides, and was dismissed for 63 runs in seven overs, including 24 in one 10-ball over.

But after the failure of their batsmen, Hoggard and Co. were on a hiding to nothing. England lost four wickets for 55 in the first hour of the match, and never recovered, although a seventh-wicket partnership of 58, between Andrew Flintoff and Alec Stewart, who top-scored with 39, provided a modicum of respectability.

Trescothick had started the innings where he left off in the third Test at Old Trafford, blazing his way to 38 from 31 balls before skewing Andrew Davies to Steffan Jones at third man, but no-one else got going. Nick Knight was caught in the gully for 4, playing away from his body as in the B&H Final on Saturday, and Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe both fell cheaply to Darren Thomas.

Ronnie Irani scratched around for a 54-ball 13, and Paul Collingwood was equally subdued. Both batsmen were put out of their misery by Croft, who reminded the selectors of his abilities with an immaculate spell of 10-0-36-2.

A last-wicket stand of 23 between Jeremy Snape and Matthew Hoggard at least enabled England to see out their full quota of overs, but all in all, it was an inglorious day's work.

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