ENGLAND provided the perfect response to last week's Riverside rout as they brushed aside Bangladesh to book their place in Saturday's NatWest Series final against Australia.

Andrew Strauss hit a eye-catching 98 - he was bowled with the scores level looking to heave his way to a century - as England lost just five wickets on their way to passing Bangladesh's inadequate 208-7 with 67 balls to spare.

Marcus Trescothick also cracked a quickfire 43 as England's openers maintained their dominance of the minnows' attack and ensured Bangladesh would be sent packing without ever having threatened to upset their hosts.

The phoney war is finished and, after recording two Test victories and three one-day wins against the Asian minnows, England's players can now devote their undivided attention to the world number ones.

Despite the emphatic margin of victory, there were enough rough edges in yesterday's display to suggest England will have to sharpen their act if they are to enjoy similarly sustained success against Australia.

The world champions might have overcome ghostly goings-on to inflict England's first defeat of the summer on Thursday night but, yesterday, it was Flintoff's turn to exorcise some personal demons. Given the paucity of parts of England's performance in the field, it is just as well that it was.

Headingley is rarely a happy hunting ground for a Lancashire lad and, for Flintoff, it has been the scene of some particularly haunting experiences.

His three previous one-day international appearances there had been unsuccessful affairs, while his two Test outings had ended in the ignominy of consecutive pairs.

But, with Bangladesh threatening to set a testing target following some slipshod England fielding, the strapping all-rounder produced two spirited spells of pace bowling to rip the heart out of the tourists' innings.

Subtly varying his length on a generally unhelpful Headingley wicket, he deservedly claimed the fourth four-wicket haul of his one-day international career.

He could have been even more successful, coming within a whisker of grabbing a hat-trick after taking two wickets in two balls to halt Bangladesh's steady early progress.

After tempting Tushar Imran to play into his own stumps, Flintoff removed the dangerous Mohammad Ashraful first ball as the youngster was lured into a rash clip that Trescothick pouched at square leg.

The hat-trick looked on when Habibul Bashar failed to get bat to ball from the following delivery but, unfortunately for Flintoff, the Bangladeshi skipper's pad was just outside the line of off-stump.

Undeterred, Flintoff returned to claim two more victims in his second spell including the notable scalp of opener Javed Omer, who held his side's innings together with a patient 81.

The Bangladeshi opener took few risks during his 151-ball stay at the crease, but had worked the ball around the outfield well before Flintoff uprooted his middle stump with the perfect inswinging yorker.

The all-rounder owed his team-mates that one, as he had figured prominently in a sloppy opening spell in which England repeatedly let the Bangladeshi batsmen off the hook.

The home side had fielded poorly at Riverside last Thursday - Trescothick's run out overshadowing an otherwise unimpressive display - but that was nothing compared to the lacklustre performance they produced yesterday.

Flintoff was the main culprit, twice putting down catchable slip chances from Omer before the batsman had reached 20, but he was by no means the only transgressor.

Paul Collingwood, who later redeemed himself by running out Habibul with a direct hit, dropped a difficult one-handed opportunity off Tushar and gave away four overthrows as Vikram Solanki failed to react to his over-enthusiastic shy at the stumps.

Simon Jones was even more wasteful, starting with four wides in a row and finishing with a total of eight in a mixed spell that saw one of his better balls account for lively opener Shariar Nafees.

Off-spinner Ashley Giles was one of the few home players to buck the trend and, after battling his way back to full fitness following a back problem, the Warwickshire off-spinner is coming to the boil nicely ahead of the Ashes series.

His main role on the one-day stage is a defensive one, but the ball that accounted for Aftab Ahmed moved enough to underline his value as an attacking force.

By conceding just 28 runs from his ten overs, Giles was able to contain any aggressive intentions Bangladesh might have had in the middle third of their innings and, just as importantly, the spinner showed his team-mates the effectiveness of a level-headed approach.

Ultimately, the gifts given away by England did not matter but, against more effective opposition, the home side would surely have been punished for their profligacy.

As it was, Bangladesh proved equally profligate themselves as England's openers set about their task with barely-disguised relish.

Trescothick whipped the first ball of the innings to the square leg boundary for four and proceeded to add 99 runs off just 93 balls in conjunction with Strauss.

The pair should have been separated in the sixth over when Mohammad Rafique failed to hold onto Strauss' top-edged hook, and the Middlesex man lived dangerously again three overs later when the same fielder failed to capitalise on a mistimed slog at long on.

In between times, Strauss was lucky to survive a vociferous lbw appeal from Nazmul Hossain but, thereafter, the 28-year-old completely overwhelmed a one-paced Bangladeshi attack that produced far too many bad balls to ever build up any pressure.

He was quick to take advantage of anything offering width on the off-side - Bangladesh being Bangladesh, there was plenty of that - showing a particular relish for the area between third man and deep extra cover.

Trescothick was equally aggressive, clobbering two huge sixes over midwicket as the tourists turned to spin, but, with his half-century approaching, the stand-in skipper was undone.

Manjural Islam took the edge with a ball that did just enough off the pitch and Khaled Mashud claimed a routine catch behind the stumps.

Flintoff was unusually restrained during his stay, although he was gradually finding his range when Rafique slipped one past his attempted sweep to pin him in front of the stumps.

The same bowler accounted for Vikram Solanki shortly after, and held a catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen, but Collingwood added an unbeaten eight to see England home.