A half-baked capitulation at the hands of Wales, and a squad reconvention that had all the central planning of a post-Soviet gulag. England's one-day summer may not have got off to the most auspicious of starts, but at Trent Bridge they were looking like a side whose bonds, as Marcus Trescothick might say, had started to groove. Until recently the only bonds in the England one-day game were of the restrictive variety. From the shambles of the 1995-96 World Cup to last summer's debacle against Australia and Pakistan, the pyjama game was designed purely for snoozing - and remains so in the eyes of the Trent Bridge authorities, who decided to wait until Sri Lanka were beginning their chase before deigning to erect their temporary floodlights.

Fortunately for England, Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher were up with the larks. By their standards, England have played a lot of one-day cricket in the last eight months - 17 games and counting since their hastily-arranged tour of Zimbabwe in October - and at last it is beginning to show. The side is settled (seven of the 11 played in the first of those matches, at Harare, and an eighth, Paul Collingwood, established himself later in that series), the batsmen know their role - and no longer panic when two wickets go down in an over. And as for the catching ...

Andrew Flintoff, as so often in the winter, epitomised the new-model England. He can hardly be described as a secret weapon for the World Cup (subtlety isn't exactly his strongpoint), but he is looking every inch the star that England need for South Africa. It had taken him 12 attempts to score a one-day fifty at home, but when it came it was a corker. England have moved him up and down the order all winter, with mixed success, but he could at last have hit on his ideal batting position. Flintoff is too great an asset to risk exposing to the newish ball. But throw him in with 10 overs to go, and give him a licence to swing ... it worked today, and it will work in the future.

Flintoff's eye-popping strokeplay - there wasn't a slog in sight - may seize the plaudits, but it was his up-and-at-'em bowling that sealed the match. Touching 90mph throughout his ten overs, he proved that, even in the one-day game, attack is the best means of defending a total - especially if it leads to such adrenalin-fuelled fielding as Hussain, Irani and Thorpe produced. Pakistan have known it for years, as have Australia. And Hussain has always aped the Australians at every opportunity.

There were flaws - Matthew Hoggard is still bowling like a man who is counting every step to the popping crease (three no-balls and two wides today) and though he was impressive on his comeback, James Kirtley has not, at least in the eyes of Kumar Sangakkara, shaken off those doubts about his action. And what do we make of Ronnie Irani? He was steady, but he had been selected to be spectacular. His 39 off 55 balls was a vital knock, and his bowling figures of 10-0-39-0 were the most economical of the innings.

Yet Irani does not look like a man who can be relied on to bowl ten overs every match. Had he been available, Mark Butcher would surely have made the one-day side for the first time in his career. He is a better bat, and his wobbly seam-up (dodgy knees permitting) would be the perfect mid-innings complement to Collingwood.

England, though, will not be nitpicking too much just yet. This is a team who really are beginning to get in the groove.

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com.

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