Colly's fearless men march on

Paul Collingwood led his team to a 42-run victory over India with a superb all-round performance which masked the absence of Andrew Flintoff, whose sore right knee kept him out of action.

Scroll down to read more:

The new captain then shed some light on the palpable change of attitude which is turning this seven-match campaign into an uplifting watershed - summing it up in two small, significant words: no fear.

For the third game running, England batted with composure and aggression, personified by Ian Bell who top-scored on his home ground. Again, they showed the ability to build and pace an innings, attributes seemingly beyond them in recent years.

The bowlers, led by James Anderson, delivered with control and considerable menace. In the case of Chris Tremlett, there was plenty of spirit to savour too, as he recovered from an early mauling to take two match-turning wickets. As for the fielding, it was relentlessly outstanding.

After their 'perfect' win at the Rose Bowl in the series opener, this was a display of similar magnitude. Collingwood, whose contribution stretched to 44 runs, two wickets and two catches, was enthused.

'That was an excellent team performance,' said the Durham all-rounder. 'In many ways I'm as satisfied today as I was at the Rose Bowl. The openers set us a platform and all the batters scored freely. The way we fielded was fantastic and the new-ball bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, set the tone when India batted. All three aspects of our game were spot on.'

So what is behind this transformation? 'When I came in (as captain), I wanted to do some things differently and (coach) Peter Moores has arrived with ideas of his own, too,' he added. 'We both agree that the way to play one-day cricket is to have a fearless attitude. It is early days, but that is starting to flow into our bloodstream. Things are improving.'

After their century stand at Bristol last Friday, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior put on 76 for the first wicket this time and provided further evidence that they are learning how to capitalise on the power-plays. Unfortunately, Prior let adrenalin get the better of good judgment - wildly miscuing to point after hitting Munaf Patel for four.

The introduction of the Indian spinners had the familiar effect of taking the wind out of England's sails and Cook was soon out to a top- edged sweep off Ramesh Powar. Piyush Chawla caused havoc in Bristol and Kevin Pietersen fell under the 18-year-old's spell again yesterday, playing all around a well-disguised googly.

When he departed for just nine, India and their vocal supporters sensed an opening, with the home side wobbling on 118 for three. But Bell and Collingwood were remarkably assured and their partnership of 75 decisively set England back on track.

Bell maintained his sensational form with another master- class in steady accumulation. He ignored the temptation to search for boundaries in favour of nudging the spinners around for ones and twos. In fact, his pivotal innings of 79 contained just two fours and two sixes.

Collingwood issued a statement of intent by hoisting the ball into the crowd over midwicket but he, too, settled into a pattern of steady scoring. The skipper should have been out leg before to Yuvraj Singh on 14 and he perished via a reckless reverse sweep, but Bell motored on to 50 from 64 balls.

Owais Shah, recalled at short notice when Dimitri Mascarenhas injured his hand in the warm-up, fell into a trap laid by Yuvraj, who pulled out of a delivery to assess the batsman's intentions, then bowled him next ball. But with the lower order chipping in, England set a daunting target.

When India replied, it said everything about Anderson's supreme bowling that he conceded 16 runs in one torturous over, but ended up with three for 32 from 9.1 overs. The Lancashire seamer had Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni both caught at backward point to silence the Indian supporters, and returned at the end to york Munaf and seal victory.

Tremlett's first two overs went for 20, but he recovered to break the partnership between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid which was threatening to swing the match. The 25-year-old bowled Dravid via an inside edge and then had Ganguly caught behind off with a lethal lifter.

Collingwood's double strike in his final over came courtesy of two sharp catches by Bell, which summed up the difference between England and the sloppy Indians. Dravid admitted as much, saying: 'We are bowling as well as England and batting as well as England, but they are out-fielding us. It is an area we have to work on.'