England Complete Resounding 196-Run Win Over India

England Complete Resounding 196-Run Win Over India

England's Stuart Broad (centre) and Alastair Cook (left) celebrate the fall of the final wicket - that of Ishant Sharma - at Lord's

©Action Images / Paul Childs Livepic

England 474-8 dec. & 269-6 dec. (Prior 103no) beat
India 286 & 261 (Anderson 5-65) by 196 runs
First Test, Lord's
Scorecard | Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four

England struck first in their Test-match series with India by bowling themselves to a 196-run win on the final day of the opening game at Lord's.

James Anderson finished the day with a five-wicket haul having removed the big three of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar as India were bowled out for 261 having been set an unlikely 458 to win.

They began on 80 for one and as RahulDravid (36) and Laxman (56) batted together, their hopes were raised before England broke a determined partnership when Dravid edged Anderson to Prior behind the stumps.

Laxman went on to compile a fluent half-century - his 53rd in Tests - but was out shortly after when he failed to get enough height on the ball trying to pull Anderson and was well caught by a leaping Ian Bell at midwicket.

Gautam Gambhir never really settled having come in at number four following an arm injury suffered on day four and he was trapped in front by Graeme Swann for 12, the decision to give him out an excellent one by Asad Rauf as the ball hit his pad a mere fraction before his bat made contact with the ball.

Tendulkar was more guarded, ensuring he played with his bat well in front of his pad but he could not make the best of a reprieve when he was dropped by Andrew Strauss at slip as he edged Anderson, trying to leave the ball.

Anderson turned on his heels and almost immediately dismissed Test cricket's leading run-scorer by taking the fielders out of the equation and trapping Tendulkar in front in the same over for 12.

It then fell to Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to try to steer India to safety, but alas for Dhoni, England had the new ball available and it wasn't long before they took it, and his wicket with it, caught behind by Prior off Chris Tremlett.

Raina ploughed a lone furrow at his end, top scoring with 78 in 136 balls but he had little support, Harbhajan Singh hitting a couple of big fours before he skied Anderson to Tremlett.

Praveen Kumar was then comprehensively bowled by Stuart Broad, Raina received a belter from Anderson that he could only nick to Prior and the game was completed when Broad, fittingly given his all-round contribution to England's dominant position, had Ishant Sharma (1) trapped in front.

Anderson returned figures of five for 65 having bowled brilliantly all day, Broad three for 57, Tremlett one for 44 and Swann one for 64 as England's four-pronged bowling attack proved too much for India, who it must be remembered, played for most of the game missing their most experienced pace bowler Zaheer Khan through injury.

India won the toss and inserted England on the opening day, which was ended early due to rain, only to see Kevin Pietersen's unbeaten double-century help England into a strong position despite Kumar's five-wicket haul on day two.

Dravid was unbeaten on 103 as India were then bowled out for 286 on day three with Broad leading England's charge with four wickets.

England slipped to 62 for five on day four before Prior scored an unbeaten century and Broad an unbeaten half-century to guide them to a winning position.

The second Test begins on 29th July at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

© Cricket World 2011