England must find consistency after Pakistan conquest

Cricket World Cup: England 246-8 Pakistan 134 England win by 112 runs

Despite being at the wrong end of the fastest ball ever recorded in cricket, a 100.2 mph sizzler from the Pakistan pace-man Shoaib Akhtar, England made the cricket world sit up and take note of their arrival at the 2003 World Cup on Saturday with a performance of unexpected brilliance and resilience.

Playing with a quality we witness far too seldom, England looked a class act against top-class opponents and it was ironic that the game was dominated by two of the lesser-known talents, James Anderson and Paul Collingwood. However, through the efforts of this pair Nasser Hussain's side have leapt from outsiders to realistic contenders for the most glamorous trophy in cricket.

That it has taken England some time to get going in this tournament, after the distraction of Zimbabwe, did not appear to worry the large English contingent in a crowd of 22,500. For them, the seven-wicket thrashing of Pakistan has made their long journey to South Africa worthwhile. Under the backdrop of Cape Town's Table Mountain, England not only kept their dreams of World Cup glory alive but also those of their travelling supporters.

How long these aspirations last will depend on whether England can match, or even better the spectacle they put on over the weekend in their final two group games against India in Durban on Wednesday and Australia in Port Elizabeth on Sunday. They know that victory in either of these fixtures will virtually ensure their qualification to the next round.

Which England side turns up against India is hard to predict, but there was no doubting the satisfaction that Saturday's win gave them. This was the biggest game England have played in since the 1999 World Cup and they were thrilled at the outcome. However, they have an awful habit of inexplicably moving from champs to chumps in a week. The main task of the captain, Hussain, and the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, over the next two days is to ensure they do not become over-confident or complacent.

If predicting which England team turns up is hard, forecasting the performance of Pakistan, the most inconsistent group of cricketers in the world, is nigh on impossible. With a side full of world-class performers they can smash any team on their day, but at Newlands they were no match for a well-prepared and disciplined England.

This result was not simply down to Pakistan having an off day because England outplayed them. Anderson, the 20-year- old from Lancashire who was playing club cricket for Burnley 18 months ago, added the brilliance with a magnificent display of bowling that earned him figures of 4 for 29 while Collingwood supplied the resilience with a mature, undefeated 66 that rescued England from the mire when they were 118 for 5.

It is safe to say that neither of these two would have been tipped to come out of this tournament as stars but that is just what they are becoming following their consistent performances. Anderson has been a revelation since he first played for England in December and he will have to do something very special to surpass this display.

Bowling fast-medium away swing, to a plan laid down by Fletcher, Anderson was too good for Pakistan's array of talented batsmen and while his figures were not quite as good as the 4 for 25 he picked up in England's first match against the Netherlands, this was the best he will have ever bowled.

His first scalp was that of Inzamam-ul-Haq who edged a beauty to the safe hands of Nick Knight at second slip. Winning the toss was vital, because the ball moved around considerably under the lights, but as a bowler you still have to pitch it in the business area. And this is what Anderson did the very next ball when he let go of an unplayable away-swinging yorker that flattened Yousuf Youhana's castle. The hat-trick did not come but it was not long before the tiro added Saeed Anwar and Rashid Latif to his list of victims.

To have outbowled an attack that boasts Shoaib – who is now out on his own as the fastest bowler in the world – as well as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq, who have taken 1,603 one-day international wickets amongst them, was an outstanding performance by bowlers who total just 201. With Craig White and Andrew Flintoff polishing off the middle order and tail, Pakistan were 80 for 9 before Shoaib showed he is no mug with the bat by smashing 43 off 16 balls.

If Anderson won the game for England, Collingwood set it up. The Durham batsman, who was one of the few pluses to come out of this winter's trip to Australia, has grown in stature and confidence since his first international 100 against Sri Lanka in Perth. The 26-year-old is certainly not flash, he just gets on with his business in a workmanlike fashion.

He does appear to be the man for a crisis, however, and that was just the situation England were in when he came to the crease with the scoreboard reading 110 for 4. Batting in tense positions like this requires a calm head and the balance between attack and defence has to be judged perfectly. Filling the role left vacant by his hero, Graham Thorpe, Collingwood did just this as he worked with England's middle order and took his side to a winning score.

The only downer on a great night for England was that Michael Vaughan strained his right calf and is doubtful for Wednesday and that Hussain's neck is still troubling him. It would take a lot to keep them off the park, though.