England on course after victory in Hamilton

England put their New Zealand tour back on track with a five-wicket victory over Northern Districts, in which they showed that lessons had been learned from the three-wicket defeat on Friday.

Andrew Flintoff made an outstanding first appearance in New Zealand with three for 20 followed by a bludgeoning 45 from 25 deliveries to finish the match with 16.4 overs to spare.

Nasser Hussain took back the captaincy, with Flintoff, Ashley Giles and James Foster all returning to the side. Marcus Trescothick, Paul Collingwood, Jeremy Snape and Matthew Hoggard made way.

Scott Styris, who returned from the CLEAR Black Caps tour of Australia at two o'clock this morning, replaced Graeme Aldridge for ND.

ND batted after winning the toss and made a promising start despite the early loss of Simon Doull, who was not given the chance to repeat his pinch-hitting heroics of the first game.

James Marshall and Michael Parlane put on 37 for the second wicket before the loss of five wickets for 19 runs meant that the rest of the innings would be a rearguard action.

Stands of 44 for the seventh-wicket between Robbie Hart and Grant Bradburn, and 29 for the eighth between Bradburn and Joseph Yovich brought the innings back to the outer edges of respectability, but a par score of around 250 was never in question after the mid-innings collapse. Bradburn was ND's top scorer, with an unbeaten 46.

England coach Duncan Fletcher spoke after the game about his disappointment with the bowling performance on Friday and the work that had gone on with all the bowlers to bring about improvement.

This paid off, with outstanding performances from all the bowlers with the exception of Andy Caddick, whose combined figures for the two matches of 20-1-104-1 have put a home-town appearance in the first One-Day International at Christchurch in doubt.

The quicker bowlers all took advantage of the recent changes to the bouncer rule, using the pace and bounce of the WestpacTrust Park pitch to good effect.

Darren Gough (9.2-4-21-2) bowled near his best, showing fire and accuracy. Craig White (8-2-23-2) continued his rapid recuperation after knee surgery, hinting that the ability to bowl at real pace has not deserted him permanently.

Giles bowled 10 overs of beautifully controlled spin, achieving some turn and finishing with two for 22.

But Flintoff was the real star of the attack with nine overs, one maiden and three wickets for 20 runs. He attacked the batsmen with pace, giving them few scoring opportunities. It was pressure one-day bowling of the first order.

There is still room for improvement in the fielding. A straightforward stumping chance missed by Foster against Hart off Giles will have done nothing to dampen speculation that Trescothick will take over the gloves at some stage in the ODI series.

The England reply got off to a cracking start. the first scoring shot was a hooked six by stand-in opener Michael Vaughan off Ian Butler.

Butler took revenge two balls later by having Vaughan caught behind.

Hussain faced some hostile bowling early on with Butler again looking distinctly rapid. In his first season at the top domestic level he has already established a reputation as the country's fastest bowler, Shane Bond apart.

ND were convinced that Hussain was caught behind without scoring off Daryl Tuffey, but umpire Billy Bowden disagreed.

Tuffey, recalled to the CLEAR Black Caps squad for the first two ODIs today - conceded only four from his first four overs, but went for 17 from his fifth, including a six over long on and a four to midwicket by the England captain.

Three wickets in three overs by Yovich brought ND back into the game. Knight (17) top-edged a catch to Hamish Marshall at backward point. Graham Thorpe soon followed, top edging a hook that was well taken on the fine-leg boundary by Parlane, who parried the ball, catching it at the second attempt while tiptoeing just inside the boundary line.

Hussain was fourth out, caught behind as he pushed at a ball outside off. He scored 29 from 49 balls and hit four fours. Yovich was removed from the attack after taking three wickets in four overs, which released some of the pressure on England.

It was left to White and Owais Shah, neither of whom has spent much time in the middle of late, to ensure that concern did not develop into crisis.

Progress was slow, with only 22 scored in 10 overs after the dismissal of Hussain. But they stayed there until White was out for 15, Hamish Marshall taking a brilliant diving catch low to his left as the batsman attempted to cut Doull.

This brought in Flintoff to finish things off. Only three of his 45 were not scored in boundaries. His hitting was clean and memorable, a straight six off Styris which rattled the sightscreen perhaps the best of a series of quality shots.

Flintoff was fully attired throughout, it being a bit chilly for chest-baring in Hamilton today.

He was well supported by Shah, who batted calmly and securely for 29 at a time when preserving wickets was important.

England are set to continue the good run of form that took them to series-levelling victory in the final two games in India. New Zealand will have to recover quickly from their disappointing finish in the VB Series if they are to compete.