Super six for Nehra leaves England facing World Cup exit

It is a name with which few of the Barmy Army would have been too familiar before yesterday, but Ashish Nehra will today be indelibly marked in their minds after a virtuoso bowling performance here which put England's further involvement in the World Cup in serious jeopardy.

England's hopes of making it beyond the first group stages and into the Super Sixes were dealt a potentially fatal blow as the left-arm seamer, who was only passed ready to play after a late fitness test, took 6 for 23, the best World Cup figures by an Indian bowler, to give his side victory by 82 runs in their Group A match.

Chasing 251 to win, England struggled in seaming conditions here at Kingsmead, Michael Vaughan being the only batsman to reach 20, before he was caught behind attempting to drive a Nehra leg-cutter.

In all, Nehra, who replaced Zaheer for the 13th over, produced six consecutive dismissals as a glut of England right-handers failed to deal with the ball angled across them. Hussain and Stewart fell in consecutive deliveries; the England captain departed in identical fashion to his dismissal against Pakistan on Saturday, edging behind in attempting to run the ball down to third man. Umpire Simon Taufel then adjudged Stewart leg before to a ball which struck above the knee roll.

Brief threats of a mid-innings resuscitation came and went as Nehra continued the damage by enticing Vaughan, Paul Collingwood, Craig White and Ronnie Irani into catches behind the wicket. Only Andrew Flintoff offered permanent resistance, mixing patience with some lusty blows – both Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly were clouted for sixes on his way to a 63-ball half-century.

Earlier, Andrew Flintoff had removed the openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar – who made 50 – to check India's early charge. Flintoff took 2 for 15 off 10 overs, while Rahul Dravid provided a late flurry with a 72-ball 62 to lift India to 250 for 9.

BEST BOWLING FIGURES IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

1 W Davis (West Indies) 7-51 v Australia, Leeds, 1983

2 G Gilmour (Australia) 6-14 v England, Leeds, 1975

3 A Nehra (India) 6-23 v England, Durban, 2003

4 C Vaas (S Lanka) 6-25 v Bangladesh, Pietermaritzburg, 2003

5 K MacLeay (Australia) 6-39 v India, Nottingham, 1983

6 G McGrath (Australia) 5-14 v West Indies, Manchester, 1999

7= A Hurst (Australia) 5-21 v Canada, Birmingham, 1979

7= P Strang (Zimbabwe) 5-21 v Kenya, Patna, 1996

7= L Klusener (S Africa) 5-21 v Kenya, Amstelveen, 1999

10 C Obuya (Kenya) 5-24 v Sri Lanka, Nairobi, 2003