England take a headstart

A batsman like Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn8217;t hit a boundary in his first 49 balls and scrambled to just 10 runs despite being in during power play. That required run-rate went to a ludicrous 20.83 at one point of innings. And just for the record 8212; or was it an obsession with creating history 8211; after winning a Test series in England after 21 years, Dravid8217;s men suffered their heaviest defeat against England since 1982.

Even in hindsight, batting second under lights or chasing 288 wasn8217;t a problem. But the Indian batting was.

It wasn8217;t surprising to see Bell as the Man of the Match for his stupendous 125 not out, but it was really James Anderson and his three quick wickets in a first spell that wrecked India.

Even with dark clouds hovering, the match went on without a hitch. The new Kookaburra ball would always hiss around and command greater respect under these conditions. However, Sourav Ganguly didn8217;t really fall to that, He lost his wicket in an attempt to take a non-existent second run and Panesar8217;s throw to the keeper sent him back. And the slide began 8211; 15 for 1 became 19 for 2 when Gautam Gambhir launched into an ambitious cover-drive to a delivery pitched up by Anderson and nicked it. Tendulkar was the next to go when gifted Ravi Bopara a catch, off Anderson again.

The 33-year old from Lancashire got swing and pace and his last scalp came when Alastair Cook rounded off a perfect day after a century with a sharp catch in the gully to send Yuvraj Singh back for zero.

Skipper Dravid, the highest scorer with 46, and Dhoni, then nudged India to 100 in 29.3 overs, but it was unrealistic to hope that they could really change the direction of the match against an attack that was hitting the right length and was backed by bubbling presence in the in-field to keep the pressure on.

Though Andrew Flintoff didn8217;t get to bat with his side losing just two wickets, he hit the deck hard, bowling quick as ever and was miserly to prove his return to the top gear.

Whatever little hope India had was dashed when Dhoni8217;s hook off Flintoff and Dravid8217;s sweep off Mascarenhas didn8217;t find much wood to go beyond the keeper8217;s reach.

Dinesh Kaarthick8217;s unbeaten 44 or Zaheer8217;s Khan8217;s two huge sixes in his 20 helped compile a few brownie points as Anderson returned to york Zaheer. Team India almost ran themselves out 8212;- literally with three run-outs 8212; while trying to force the score.

Scoreboard

England 288/2

India

S Ganguly run out Prior 2

S Tendulkar c Bopara b Anderson 17

G Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 3

R Dravid c Prior b Mascarenhas 46

Y Singh c Cook b Anderson 0

MS Dhoni c Prior b Flintoff 19

D Kaarthick not out 44

A Agarkar run out 11

P Chawla run out 2

Z Khan b Anderson 20

RP Singh b Panesar 0

Extras: 10lb, 5w, 5nb: 20

Total: all out, in 50 overs: 184

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-19, 3-34, 4-34, 5-102, 6-105, 7-129,

8-145, 9-183, 10-184.

Bowling: Broad 8-1-27-0, Anderson 10-2-23-4, Flintoff 7-0-12-1, Mascarenhas 10-1-28-1, Panesar 10-0-47-1, Paul Collingwood 5-0-37-0.