Flintoff equalled Botham's record of 44 one-day sixes Match report

The Lancashire all-rounder saved England's blushes when they slumped to 37-3, replying to Bangladesh's 134-9.

He smashed 70 not out off 47 balls as England won by seven wickets in Dhaka.

England captain Michael Vaughan said: "Andrew's quite a player. His innings was pretty special."

Flintoff equalled Ian Botham's England one-day record of 44 sixes along the way.

The 25-year-old was unable to collect the latest of his man-of-the-match awards, missing the presentation ceremony because he was dehydrated.

Vaughan said: "It's become obvious to all of us around him that he [Flintoff] is focusing on his batting a lot more."

If we were being ultra-critical you could probably say we allowed them to score too many runs Michael Vaughan

But while Vaughan enjoyed Flintoff's performance he said England as a whole needed to improve in a number of areas.

He was disappointed they failed to bowl Bangladesh out after the hosts had been reduced to 7-4 in the 10th over.

And Vaughan was also concerned England, namely Vikram Solanki, Marcus Trescothick and Paul Collingwood gave their wickets away cheaply.

He said: "We batted under lights and thought their opening pair bowled very well. It was a good test for us.

"If we were being ultra-critical you could probably say we allowed them to score too many runs.

"I'm being very harsh here as well but I don't think we were as good in the field today as we were on Friday.

"We dropped a couple of catches and missed a couple of run-outs. If our goal is to be the best fielding side we certainly wouldn't say we were at our best in the field today."

England will consider changes for the final match against Bangladesh, at Dhaka on Wednesday.

Batsman Andrew Strauss, spinner Gareth Batty, fast bowler James Kirtley and all-rounder Anthony McGrath have yet to play in the one-day series.

Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud said they never recovered from the loss of the early wickets.

He said: "We didn't score enough runs. If we don't get enough runs on the board then we are not going to contain England."