England notch one-day win
Monty Panesar had a hand in two Indian run-outs
Tuesday, 21, Aug 2007 10:36
England cruised to a 104-run victory in the first one-day international of the series against India at the Rose Bowl thanks to centuries from Alastair Cook and Ian Bell.
Resisting the temptation to elevate either Andrew Flintoff or Kevin Pietersen up the order coach Peter Moores was rewarded with high scores from two of his lower-profile players.
Although he lost opening partner Matt Prior (19) with 43 runs on the board, Cook held firm and formed a sensational 178-run partnership with Bell that will have had Rahul Dravid pondering his decision to send the hosts into bat.
The Essex youngster was dismissed for 102 after RP Singh finally managed to find the zip in the pitch his skipper was looking for and persuaded a good-length delivery to dart back and clip his off stump.
Bell marched on to finish on 126 not out while Kevin Pietersen produced a typically-spirited cameo gathering up 33 runs off 25 deliveries before accompanying his colleague back to the pavilion with England well-positioned on 288-2.
That score soon looked beyond the tourists as they collapsed to 34-4 in a clatter of early wickets.
James Anderson picked off Sachin Tendulkar (17), Gautam Gambhir (3) and Yuvraj Singh (0) in quick succession and, although scores of 46 and 32 from Dravid and Dinesh Karthik kept the Indian innings bubbling along, it never threatened to overhaul England's effort.
Anderson finished the evening with figures of 4-23 as an emphatic yorker cleared out Zaheer Khan's stumps and left India well short of their target on 184 all out.