When they needed to most, England showed they had the bottle to fight their way out of trouble to pull off the spectacular victory over Pakistan, a delighted Nasser Hussain said after the first one-day international in Karachi.

The prospect of chasing a massive 305 target required courage and patience and England showed they were up to it with some gritty and stylish contributions from Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe, as well as Hussain himself who made 73.

Such high class performances ensured England entered the history books by reaching the fourth highest winning total by a side batting second in a one-day international - and eclipsed their own previous best of 286 for four against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1986.

"We will look at the future and how we can improve, but what we did was something very special for this team,'' said the England captain.

"We had to bat with our heads, be sensible.

"Some people were saying get Flintoff and Hick up the order, get all your hitters in because it's a good wicket.

"That's not the way one-day internationals go - when you're 13 for two you sometimes have to take stock and bat sensibly.

"This is the most satisfying and pleasing one-day victory I've been involved with and I was very proud of my team and the character they showed."

Hussain added that he was particularly pleased with the performance of Andrew Flintoff, who was starting to repay the faith shown in him by selectors over the past two years.

The Lancashire all-rounder has rarely sparkled in his 14 one-day international appearances since scoring a half-century on his debut against Pakistan in Sharjah 18 months ago, yet England have consistently backed their judgement by continuing to select him.

But by scoring 84 off only 59 deliveries, he made his best international score so far and showed he possesses a special talent.

"I'm not interested in comparing him with anyone else, I'm only concerned with how he played and he did as well as he could,'' stressed Hussain.

"He played a sensible innings, showed his fitness and showed everything that we know he can be, but the problem with English cricket is that he gets 80 and people want him to bat at number three in a Test match.

"He's done very well, but he's only won one one-day international and we want to keep his feet on the ground so that next time he goes out batting he can do it again.

"People forget that only a few months ago he was getting bad headlines. I'm really pleased with what he's done but let's not look too far ahead into the future."

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