By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent

Andrew Flintoff gave India a taste of his astonishing power as England achieved their first victory batting first for 26 matches.

Flitnoff provided rich entertainment for the England fans in the crowd

He failed by just a single run to complete his third one-day century in four innings, but his partnership of 174 with Paul Collingwood rescued England from 105-4.

Flintoff's first 50 runs were scored in a mature, responsible manner. In fact, Collingwood needed fewer deliveries for his half century - 62 balls to Flintoff's 66.

But Flintoff then cut loose in devastating fashion before top-edging a pull and falling for 99.

It was just the rousing performance this competition needs.

Sandwiched between the Test series with West Indies and the ICC Champions Trophy, these are really nothing more than money-spinners for the ECB.

But England have looked much sharper in these two games than in the NatWest Series earlier in the summer.

The fielding has improved out of sight - the recall of Vikram Solanki has a great deal to do with that - and the confidence they gained through defeating West Indies so convincingly in the Test series appears to have rubbed off as well.

This was a timely innings by Collingwood.

Collingwood justifed England faith in his ability

One or two eyebrows were raised when he was included in the Test squad to tour South Africa this winter but he demonstrated what a useful cricketer he is.

He managed the strike absolutely perfectly when Flintoff began to open his shoulders and once his partner had been dismissed, he played some big shots of his own to take England beyond 300 for the first time in two years.

That was the match in which India scored 325 to win the NatWest Series at Lord's, but any hopes of that happening again were quickly snuffed out.

Virender Sehwag was lbw to Darren Gough in the first over, which was followed by the extraordinary, even comical, run out of Sourav Ganguly.

Having played the ball to mid-off, and called for a single, he contrived to collide with his partner, VVS Laxman and dropped his bat.

Ganguly could do nothing to prevent Flintoff from hitting the stumps direct, and the furious captain stormed from the ground.

It rather summed up India's performance.

Apart from Harbhajan Singh - who bowled brilliantly in helpful conditions - their attack has been poor and their fielding cumbersome.

He also played some bold strokes in at the death but generally their batting has failed to fire on either occasion, and while it is too early to write them off for the Champions Trophy, they are looking anything but threatening at the moment.