Glory night for old virtues

Cricket World Cup: Consistency of Caddick and Anderson the decisive edge

One of the beauties of watching a side like England take on Pakistan is the contrasting ways in which they play the game. While England rely on the seemingly old-fashioned methods of consistency, discipline and competitiveness, their Asian counterparts prefer flair and natural talent to bring them the results they require.

Nowhere is this highlighted more clearly than in the bowling departments of each side. England's seamers rely on getting the ball consistently in the right areas and wearing a batsman down, whereas Pakistan prefer to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

Without a bowler who can change the course of a match in a couple of overs, England have to play this way and last night's victory was due to the side using such qualities to their full. Nasser Hussain and the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, will continually stress the importance of bowling a good line and length and this is just what James Anderson and Andrew Caddick did here at Newlands.

Exploiting English-style conditions in the evening to their maximum, Hussain's side made the most of the new ball to knock over the cream of Pakistan's batting. Paul Collingwood played his part to set up England's impressive performance with a mature innings of 66 not out, but it was the bowling, and particularly that of Anderson, which won the game.

Differing attitudes towards bowling arise because of the nature of the environment you are brought up in. Swing and seam movement is easily achieved in England through playing on pitches which offer help and by using a ball with a prominent seam. There is no need to bust a gut and bowl at 95mph when success can be gained through pitching the ball consistently on a good length.

In Asia, however, that does not cut it. Dobbing it on a good length will not challenge batsmen who play their strokes with confidence on perfect batting pitches. After a while balls pitched on off-stump will be clipped through square leg for four. Because of this the bowlers have to reassess the way in which they work and that is why the coaching manual may as well be thrown out of the window.

Methods used by Pakistan's star-studded bowling attack are dictated by the harshness of conditions in Asia. Such unrewarding pitches have forced bowlers either to use the lightning pace of a Shoaib Akhtar or devise methods of moving the ball – reverse swing – like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

For a team who have a reputation based on inconsistency, poor discipline and brilliance, Pakistan looked a well-organised and impressive outfit in the field yesterday. It was as though they were trying to adopt an English attitude. They were well led by their captain, Waqar, who set good fields and rotated his bowlers intelligently.

However, attempting to combine an instinct to play with freedom and a well-prepared gameplan ultimately did not work and it is not one of their strengths. Pakistan's bowlers are better off looking to take wickets rather than to bowl maidens and they would probably have been more successful if they played their natural way. That their tactics yesterday were backed up by an outstanding fielding display from a side more often noted for their indifference in this department suggests a lot of thought has gone into their preparations.

Even with a methodical approach, Pakistan are still an entertaining team to watch. Shoaib tore in, much to the delight of a near capacity crowd, and bowled the first officially timed ball over 100 mph. But after acknowledging the applause of the crowd, the speedster had a miserable afternoon and conceded 63 runs in his nine overs.

Wasim Akram, however, looked every inch the world-class performer he is. As a bowler he is as unconventional as any to have played the game and because of this he is a joy to watch. Bowling line and length is of no interest to Wasim, who is a gambler. The 36-year-old may not be as fast as he used to be but he has more tricks up his sleeve than Paul Daniels ever did. By dismissing Marcus Trescothick with a beautiful leg-cutter he got Pakistan off to the ideal start.

The Somerset opener has not had the best of weeks. On Wednesday his chances of becoming the next England captain receded when he was overlooked as Hussain's replacement in the match against Namibia. His misery was compounded during the game when he appeared to misinform acting captain Alec Stewart that England were ahead on Duckworth-Lewis, the system used to work out the winner in a rain-affected match, when they were not.

However, the bigger concern for England's only real match-winning batsman is his batting. Trescothick was found out by the skilled seamers of Australia during this winter's Ashes series and he has not yet recovered. Being the dedicated cricketer he is, the 27-year-old has attempted to amend his technique in an effort to address the problems he has had outside off stump.

This work is still taking place but one has to question whether a World Cup is the stage where such adjustments should be made. When playing in a tournament as big as this it is a clear head that is required when walking to the middle, not distractions. Such work should have been done either before reaching South Africa or after the competition.