England beat India in one-day cricket series opener

August 21, 2007

England have beaten India by 104 runs in the first One-Day International of the Indian tour of England at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire, England.

England's batsmen started quietly, reaching 43-1 in the eleventh over when Matt Prior was caught off Zaheer Khan's bowling. Alastair Cook and Ian Bell shared a 178-run partnership, with Cook reaching his maiden one-day century before being bowled by Yuvraj Singh. Soon afterwards, Bell reached his first one-day century, and finished the innings on 126 not out. Kevin Pietersen added 33 runs off 25 balls and England finished their 50 overs with a score of 288-2.

In response, the Indian batsmen struggled. Sourav Ganguly was run out by Monty Panesar early in the innings. Soon afterwards James Anderson claimed his 100th ODI wicket when Gautam Gambhir was caught behind to leave India on 19-2. Anderson then took two wickets in one over when Sachin Tendulkar was caught by Ravi Bopara at mid-wicket and Yuvraj Singh was caught by Cook for a duck.

Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni steadied the India innings with a partnership of 68 runs, but Dhoni was caught behind off Andrew Flintoff, who returned to the England side after a period of injury. Rahul Dravid scored 46 before being dismissed by Dimitri Mascarenhas, taking his first one-day wicket. Dinesh Karthik scored 44 not out and Zaheer Khan hit 20, including two sixes, but India were bowled out for 184, far short of the 289 run target. James Anderson was the pick of the England bowlers, taking 4-23.

England lead the seven-match series 1-0. The second ODI will take place at the County Ground, Bristol, on 24 August. Earlier in the month, India won a three-match Test series 1-0.

Toss: India won, and chose to field first.

Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Prior, 10.5 ov), 2-221 (Cook, 41.4 ov)

Did not bat: P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, R S Bopara, A D Mascarenhas, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, M S Panesar

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Ganguly, 2.3 ov), 2-19 (Gambhir, 5.6 ov), 3-34 (Tendulkar, 11.1 ov), 4-34 (Yuvraj Singh, 11.5 ov), 5-102 (Dhoni, 30.3 ov), 6-105 (Dravid, 31.4 ov), 7-129 (Agarkar, 38.5 ov), 8-145 (Piyush Chawla, 42.1 ov), 9-183 (Khan, 48.3 ov), 10-184 (Singh, 49.6 ov)

England: A N Cook, M J Prior (wkt), I R Bell, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood (capt), A Flintoff, R S Bopara, A D Mascarenhas, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, M S Panesar

India: S R Tendulkar, S C Ganguly, G Gambhir, R Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, K D Karthik, M S Dhoni (wkt), Piyush Chawla, A B Agarkar, R P Singh, Z Khan

Man of the Match: I R Bell (England)

Umpires: M R Benson and B R Doctrove (West Indies) TV Umpire: I J Gould Match Referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka) Reserve Umpire: N J Llong