England hand India their first defeat in NatWest series England would have been cheered no end as they delivered India's first defeat in this NatWest series. When play finally got underway after a gloomy morning dimmed prospects of a match, the game was reduced to 32 overs per side. England took full advantage of their overs, with Ronnie Irani and Andy Flintoff slamming fifties to spur their side to 229 for eight. Similar fireworks from India were missing; except for Virender Sehwag's 46, no knock looked like taking the visitors to their target. Bowled out for 165 in 29.1 overs, India suffered yet again at the hands of Irani, who scalped 5-26 from seven overs. Being a sort of prequel for Saturday's final at Lord's, the match could have gone better from India's point of view. It remains to be seen whether they can shrug off the defeat, play well against Sri Lanka on Thursday and go into the final in a winning frame of mind.

Irani thrilled with England's win England's Man of the Match Ronnie Irani was thrilled with his team's win in the dress rehearsal for the NatWest Series final at the Oval. The all-rounder hit 53 in England's total of 229 for eight and then took five for 26, before taking the catch that ended the Indian innings on 165. "It went well didn't it?" Irani said. "The play by Alec Stewart was superb behind the stumps. It really went well for England today and hopefully it will on Saturday as well. You want to achieve and you know at the highest level you have responsibility wherever you are asked to bat." "We were very good today," England captain Nasser Hussain said. "I was very pleased, it was a good toss to win. Knight and Trescothick went about it the right way. In fact, so did everyone who batted. It was a good score on there, and then we bowled well and took our catches as well. A few words were said after the last game, but on the whole they know they're playing some good cricket." "We just kept having these mad half-hours, but today we had some very good half-hours. A final at Lord's is completely different, and we will have to go back to basics for a 50-overs game. But we got a lot of confidence from our display here." India captain Sourav Ganguly said, "I thought England played pretty well. They were better in all the departments today." When asked about Anil Kumble's fitness, Ganguly said, "He's just got cramps in his calf. I don't know exactly what happened to him. We will just have to see how he is."

What-more could Sri Lanka want? No back-to-backs, for starters Sri Lanka may have won their first match of the tournament on Sunday, but coach Dav Whatmore was less than pleased with the schedule of the NatWest tournament. Although India and Sri Lanka both played back-to-back matches over a weekend, England escaped such an arrangement. "Back-to-backs are always hard all over the world. We are not very keen on this sort of schedule, particularly when one team doesn't have a back-to-back," said Whatmore. The Sri Lankans were further hampered when their team bus ran into traffic on the M6 and reached their hotel late on Saturday night. But the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) stuck to its guns, saying that home teams were always favoured in such manners and that England had encountered similar treatment when they toured abroad.

Don't just read about your favourite sport - hear all about it with CricInfo's daily audio bulletins. Click Here Secure your year-long ticket to unlimited fun. Become a member of Kirkets now. Click Here Seasoned journalist Partab Ramchand accords many plaudits to India for their consistency in the NatWest series. Click Here