Former players laud England's historic win

English cricketing fraternity has hailed the nation's historic win over Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord's, saying the hosts were simply brilliant throughout the match.

English cricketing fraternity has hailed the nation's historic win over Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord's, saying the hosts were simply brilliant throughout the match.

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While skipper Andrew Strauss was praised for his tactics retiring Andrew Flintoff was lauded for his match-winning bowling performance that helped England beat Australia for the first time at Lord's in 75 years.

Flintoff rattled the visitors' batting line up yesterday with a fiery fast bowling display of five wickets for 92 runs in 27 overs.

Former bowling great Ian Botham said Flintoff's herculean performance on a dead Lord's pitch was the highlight of England's victory.

"Flintoff's effort was almost superhuman - because he produced a match-winning performance on a flat pitch," Botham said in the Daily Mirror.

"There was nothing in that Lord's wicket to encourage any pace bowler, but Fred was the only one on either side who was prepared to extract any life out of it by flogging himself to breaking point," he said.