Fledglings earn skipper's praise

Captain Andrew Flintoff hailed the influence of England's youngsters after celebrating a first win as captain in Australia.

Telling contributions from centurion Ed Joyce, Ian Bell, Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood helped Flintoff's team to a 92-run win at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which keeps hopes of a finals place in the Commonwealth Bank Series alive.

"One of the real pleasing things about it is that it was the young lads who won the game for us," said Flintoff. "They carried us through - that gives you a lot of heart and shows these lads can play."

Set up by a score of 292 for seven - a new England record 50-over score against their Ashes rivals, coming in the 50th such contest - England forced home the advantage impressively.

"The one thing we had to do was keep the belief we could beat Australia," said Flintoff.

"A combination of everything - winning the toss - came together.

"We went back to the basics of one-day cricket: your opening batsman bats through, gets a hundred and the others bat around him.

"Then, with the ball in your hand defending 290, there is a real belief you can do it. The fielding was fantastic and we didn't let up."