England 293 for 6 (Stewart 83, Flintoff 50*) beat Sri Lanka 249 for 9 (Kaluwitharana 52, Flintoff 3-49) by 44 runs
scorecard

A muscular allround performance from Andrew Flintoff, the highlight of which was a withering 28-ball 50, drove England to a 44-run victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the NatWest Series.

The decisive passage of play came when Flintoff added 84 in 10.2 overs with Alec Stewart, who made a mature 83, while Nasser Hussain led a display that will have the catches-win-matches brigade purring. It wasn't a flawless performance, though: most of England's batsmen got in and got out, and the bowling was efficient rather than inspired.

But a win is a win, and England have already improved on their record in last year's NatWest Series, when they lost six out of six. Sri Lanka occasionally threatened to overhaul England's 293 for 6, but once Paul Collingwood struck in each of his first two overs, the game drifted away from Sri Lanka, and Flintoff bustled in at the death to finish with 3 for 49.

On a flat track, with the sun shining brightly, England had got off to a breezy start, but from the moment Nick Knight was lbw to Nuwan Zoysa for 20 in the sixth over (39 for 1), their innings was a frustratingly stop-start affair until Flintoff arrived.

Having raced to 26 off 25 balls, Marcus Trescothick skied a leading edge to cover (47 for 2). And then after a busy partnership of 56 in 10 overs, England lost Hussain and Graham Thorpe in the space of four deliveries from Dilhara Fernando. Hussain (32) played inside one that held its line and was bowled (103 for 3), and a leaden-footed Thorpe chopped on for 18 (104 for 4).

With England were one wicket away from a crisis, Stewart and Ronnie Irani, in his first one-day international for five years, added 95 important runs in 20 overs. Irani played selflessly within himself for 39 off 55 balls, but his first real shot in anger brought his downfall, as he hoisted Russel Arnold straight to Mahela Jayawardene at square leg.

Enter Flintoff, who brained his first fifty in a one-dayer in England in majestic style. Two strokes in particular stood out: a sortie across his stumps to dump Chaminda Vaas high over square leg for six, and a majestic drive over the extra-cover fence after he picked Dilhara Fernando's slower ball.

After Stewart was yorked by Vaas, Collingwood applied the icing, impishly sweeping, edging and smacking 10 off the final three balls of the innings.

Sri Lanka's reply went from the ridiculous to the sublime. The farce came with the revelation that the floodlights, a fairly important part of day-night games, stayed resolutely unerected and for a short time it seemed that the match might not go its course. Only in England.

Then came the transcendent, a quite brilliant catch from Hussain to dismiss his opposite number, Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya aimed a loose drive at Matthew Hoggard and Hussain dived full length to his left to take a breathtaking one-handed catch (19 for 1). Jonty Rhodes would have been proud of it. Jayasuriya was gone for 12, and Hussain's arms-pumping, goalscorer's celebration showed what a big moment it was. It was a screamer.

The hare and the tortoise then swapped roles as Romesh Kaluwitharana and Marvan Atapattu added 72 for the second wicket – Atapattu doing most of the runscoring with some easy-on-the-eye drives – until Atapattu drove Flintoff on the up to mid-off, where Irani dived to his left to take a crisp two-handed catch (91 for 2). Atapattu was gone for 47, and with the required run-rate approaching seven, Sri Lanka needed an injection of impetus.

It came from Mahela Jayawardene, who breezed to 20 not out off his first 13 balls without a care in the world. Kaluwitharana then thwhacked Irani over midwicket for six. But he fell soon after, chipping Collingwood to short midwicket, where Thorpe took a classy one-handed catch. Kaluwitharana was gone for 52 – his first fifty in 17 one-dayers.

Collingwood struck again with the last ball of his next over, wobbling one between bat and pad to bowl Jayawardene for 29 (152 for 4), and from there England were always in charge. Arnold and Sangakkara added 62, but with boundaries at a premium the asking rate spiralled as Matthew Hoggard and the impressive James Kirtley put the squeeze on.

Arnold (29) was run out backing up by Hoggard (214 for 5), and in the next over the contest was effectively dead when Sangakkara and Upul Chandana fell in the space of three balls from Flintoff. Sangakkara scooped a drive to mid-on, and Chandana top-edged a pull.

After Sri Lanka squeezed past the 234 they needed to avoid conceding an extra bonus point, the innings petered out comically. Kirtley castled Vaas, and then yorked Nuwan Zoysa first ball ... and started appealing for lbw until he realised what had happened. He was an inch away from a hat-trick, too, as Fernando inside-edged his first ball just past leg stump.

Instead, the last over went to Flintoff, who not content with his highest score in an ODI in England, also returned his best figures at home. Whichever way you look at it, this was his day.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd