ENGLAND put their recent slump behind them with a resounding five wicket victory in yesterday's second one day international against South Africa.
Graeme Hick hit a brilliant 55, skipper Mike Atherton was man of the match with 85, and Graham Thorpe finished 72 not out as South Africa's 262 for eight was overhauled with a comfortable nine balls to spare at Bloemfontein.
For England, this was an important result, squaring the seven match series 1-1 and putting a stop to a slide in fortunes in Cape Town which began with Test match defeat and continued with two one day losses.
Not even a power failure, which cut the floodlights at Springbok Park midway through the England reply, could put Atherton's side out of their stride.
Mark Ramprakash, however, is still suffering a personal playing crisis, run out after facing only four balls, with his first run for 42 days no consolation at all.
England chose to use Phil DeFreitas in a hitting role at the top of their order and although he made just 17, he did help provide the innings with a fast start. The real acceleration came when Hick arrived at the crease following DeFreitas' exit in the seventh over.
Cashing in on the fielding restrictions that exist in the first 5 overs, he clipped Richard Snell over mid wicket for six and then greeted the arrival into the attack of Allan Donald by striking the fast bowler's first three deliveries to the boundary.
Hick dominated a 71 run partnership with Atherton, who then picked tip his own scoring rate in a 90 run partnership for the third wicket with Thorpe that settled the issue.
The next match in the series is at Johannesburg tomorrow,
