Rose Bowl saw an unusual sight last night —- that of Monty Panesar bowling the 50th over for his side. For all his guile with the ball, Panesar hasn’t really been a skipper’s choice at the death.But Paul Collingwood didn’t really have any fear. When Panesar cleaned up RP Singh - India were all out for 184 - England got a 1-0 head start in the seven-match One-Day International series. The defeat was by a huge 104 runs, and the entire Indian team had managed only 10 boundaries — as many as only Ian Bell rang aloud.A batsman like Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn’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 — or was it an obsession with creating history - after winning a Test series in England after 21 years, Dravid’s men suffered their heaviest defeat against England since 1982.Even in hindsight, batting second under lights or chasing 288 wasn’t a problem. But the Indian batting was.It wasn’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 didn’t really fall to that, He lost his wicket in an attempt to take a non-existent second run and Panesar’s throw to the keeper sent him back. And the slide began - 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 didn’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 Dhoni’s hook off Flintoff and Dravid’s sweep off Mascarenhas didn’t find much wood to go beyond the keeper’s reach.Dinesh Kaarthick’s unbeaten 44 or Zaheer’s Khan’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 —- literally with three run-outs — while trying to force the score.ScoreboardEngland 288/2IndiaS Ganguly run out Prior 2S Tendulkar c Bopara b Anderson 17G Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 3R Dravid c Prior b Mascarenhas 46Y Singh c Cook b Anderson 0MS Dhoni c Prior b Flintoff 19D Kaarthick not out 44A Agarkar run out 11P Chawla run out 2Z Khan b Anderson 20RP Singh b Panesar 0Extras: (10lb, 5w, 5nb): 20Total: (all out, in 50 overs): 184Fall 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.
