EDGBASTON (England won toss): India beat England by 63 runs

A DREADFUL leg-before decision against Graham Thorpe in the fourth over of the resumed England innings yesterday was the crucial wicket for India on their way to a victory that squeezed them into the Super Six stage of the World Cup on net run-rate.

It was only one of several reasons, however, for England's failure. The deep dismay that hangs over all concerned with Team England this morning is caused, more than anything, by the knowledge that the two strongest opponents in their group defeated them easily, in both cases after England had bowled well enough to create a winning chance.

They had needed to beat India to go through to the second round with the two points that would have given them any realistic chance of a subsequent place in the semi-finals. For the same reason, India, who have qualified but with no points carried through to the second round, will probably have to win all three of their Super Six matches to go farther, but when Alec Stewart won his fifth toss out of five in bright sunshine on Saturday morning, no one had given serious consideration to the possibility that England, win or lose, would not qualify, at least on net run-rate. Zimbabwe's triumph against South Africa at Chelmsford changed all perceptions.

England had only themselves to blame for pottering about in the last few overs of the Zimbabwe match last Tuesday. Jack Foley, of Kent, the England scorer, had left a run-rate chart in the dressing-room, but it appears to have been ignored and Fairbrother, as he had against South Africa in different circumstances, simply had a net in the middle as the last few runs were gently picked off. Had England won that game three overs earlier, South Africa's total against Zimbabwe might have been sufficient.

Hindsight also says that Stewart should have batted first on Saturday, simply because the pitch was virtually dry and the sun was out. The heavy clouds and moist atmosphere when India began bowling later in the day were significantly to their advantage and much the same conditions prevailed when the game continued only half an hour late yesterday morning.

Nevertheless, Mohammad Azharuddin, the India captain, said that he would have fielded first, too, adding: "I thought England bowled really well and the pitch had a lot of sideways movement. I thought we were 30 or 40 runs short, but we bowled well and pushed them into mistakes."

India did bowl well, but they were helped by some poor shots, both on Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning. It was somehow horribly predictable that the unconsidered Mohanty should have taken England by surprise. Stewart edged a drive to second slip in his second over and Hick succumbed to his second ball, limply pushing forward in an attempt to cover the movement away and playing on from an inside edge.

The key dismissals, however, were those of England's two best players. Hussain might have been distracted by the increasing bad light and coming rain when he attempted a gentle nudge behind square against Sourav Ganguly and played on. That one wicket made England's task, when they resumed yesterday at 73 for three in the 21st over, immeasurably harder.

Thorpe and Neil Fairbrother started well enough, Thorpe clipping his seventh four off Srinath through mid-wicket off his toes, but the fact that Srinath then went round the wicket and pitched the ball on leg stump from a wide angle before appealing successfully for leg-before made Javed Akhtar's decision outrageous. Thorpe took a big chance with Peter Burge, the referee, by lingering in fury and astonishment for as long as he did.

An umpire with no appreciation of geometry should not be allowed anywhere near a World Cup and the International Cricket Council (ICC) is to blame for preferring political correctness to proven competence in their selection of the umpires for the tournament. The best players in the world deserve the best available officials, regardless of their nationality, but the ICC insisted on at least one umpire from each of the nine Test countries.

Thorpe's dismissal after a fine innings left Fairbrother and Flintoff at the helm. They managed one productive over against Mohanty, but Fairbrother was capably restrained by Anil Kumble's unerringly straight slow-medium top-spinners and Flintoff's attempts to heave mightily to leg were of the crudest village blacksmith variety. The England camp believed that he had got an inside edge to the ball that claimed him leg-before and Javed made a third mistake when Fairbrother, cutting, was caught behind off Kumble, but given not out. He edged a desperate drive soon after, but, by then, Hollioake had fallen, sweeping instead of hitting straight, and Ealham had gone to a feckless and poorly executed cut to slip.

India might have made only 232 for eight on Saturday, but, apart from Sachin Tendulkar's pull to deep square leg, they had batted far better against excellent bowling and committed fielding. Ganguly hit beautifully through the covers before being cruelly run out from a deflection off Ealham; Dravid made another elegant fifty; and Jadeja improvised brilliantly before he skied a ball that seemed to bounce back to Fraser off the gathering clouds.

May 31, 1999

Scoreboard

INDIA

S C Ganguly run out	40
S Ramesh c Hick b Mullally	20
R S Dravid c Ealham b Flintoff	53
S R Tendulkar c Hick b Ealham	22
*M Azharuddin c Hussain b Ealham	26
A D Jadeja c Fraser b Gough	39
+N R Mongia b Mullally	2
J Srinath b Gough	1
A Kumble not out	6
Prasad not out	2
Extras (lb7 w10 nb4)	21
Total (8 wkts, 50 overs)	232

Fall of wickets: 1-49 2-93 3-139 4-174 5-188 6-209 7-210 8-228

D S Mohanty did not bat.

Bowling: Gough 10-0-51-2; Fraser 10-2-30-0; Mullally 10-0-54-2; Ealham 10-2-28-2; Flintoff 5-0-28-1; Hollioake 5-0-34-0;

ENGLAND

N Hussain b Ganguly	33
*+A J Stewart c Azharuddin
b Mohanty	2
G A Hick b Mohanty	0
G P Thorpe lbw b Srinath	36
N H Fairbrother c Mongia b Ganguly	29
A Flintoff lbw b Kumble	15
A J Hollioake lbw b Kumble	6
M A Ealham c Azharuddin b Ganguly	0
D Gough c Kumble b Prasad	19
A R C Fraser not out	15
A D Mullally b Srinath	0
Extras (b4 lb4 w5 nb1)	14
Total (45.2 overs)	169

Fall of wickets: 1-12 2-13 3-72 4-81 5-118 6-130 7-131 8-132 9-161.

Bowling: Srinath 8.2-3-25-2; Mohanty 10-0-54-2; Prasad 9-1-25-1; Ganguly 8-0-27-3; Kumble 10-1-30-2.

Umpires: D L Hair (Australia) and Javed Akhtar (Pakistan). Third umpire: D B Cowie (New Zealand). Match referee: P J Burge (Australia).