England crush India at Lord's to win series

New Delhi: England chasing India's paltry total of 187 cruised to a 7 wicket victory after Indian bowlers failed to take advantage of early breakthroughs at Lord's on Saturday. After a disastrous start to the innings, Ian Bell (36), Kevin Pietersen (71 not out) and Paul Collingwood (64 not out) guided England home in the deciding match, taking the series 4-3.

RP Singh, who was drafted in the crucial tie in place of Ajit Agarkar removed both openers early. Both, new recruit Luke Wright and wicket-keeper Matt Prior went without scoring.

Ian bell along with Kevin Pietersen consolidated and led the England recovery before Bell fell victim to a bad call from Pietersen as the in-form batsman was run out for a well made 36.

The Collingwood-Pietersen duo, then showed nerves of steel and led England to an easy win in the end with 82 balls remaining.

Earlier, India failed to carry forward their momentum from the sensational win at The Oval as the visitors were bundled out for 187 in 47.2 overs in the series decider at Lord’s on Saturday after Rahul Dravid elected to bat.

England seamers struck early and pushed India on the back-foot in the seventh and final One-Dayer at Lord's. The Indian top order's early exit put the home side in the driver's seat as the top six Indian batsmen went back to the hut with only 119 runs on the board.

England put 'Team India' under pressure right at the onset as James Andersen and Stuart Broad did not allow the Indian openers to cut loose. Sourav Ganguly was the first Indian batsman to take the long walk back in the seventh over when the southpaw edged a James Andersen delivery and Andrew Flintoff at slips accepted the catch gleefully.

India lost their second wicket when Gautam Gambhir, who was impressive at The Oval was caught brilliantly by Luke Wright off a mistimed pull shot for 12 at square leg of the bowling of James Andersen.

The Indian skipper walked in with India in a spot of bother but did not bother the scorers. Rahul Dravid, who has been in ominous touch in the ODI series was scalped by the Andrew Flintoff for a three ball duck.

The come back man Flintoff then struck a huge blow to the visitors by removing the set Sachin Tendulkar, who was not convinced with the umpire's decision. Replays showed the master blaster might have been a tad unlucky as the ball might have just escaped a nick from Tendulkar’s bat.

India's hero at The Oval, Robin Uthappa joined Yuvraj Singh in the middle and the duo consolidated for a while. But just as India was looked set to recover, Uthappa lost his wicket for 22 off a slower one from Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Yuvraj Singh, India's last recognized batsman soon departed after adding 28 runs. In what can be called a soft dismissal, Yuvraj glided a delivery from Dimitri Mascarenhas straight in the hands of the short-thirdman fielder.

The Indian tail failed to wag as Ramesh Powar (10), Piyush Chawla (0) and Zaheer Khan (7) could not display their batting prowess for long and gave their wicket cheaply with MS Dhoni left stranded at one end with India struggling to play their full quota of 50 overs.

M S Dhoni after a circumspect beginning looked to take the attack to the opposition with last man R P Singh on the other end. The Jharkand player struck some meaty blows to add a few runs to India’s miserly total. But he wicket-keeper batsman perished in the 48th over with India failing to reach the 200-run mark.

This was England's first series win under skipper Collingwood. The intensely fought series ended with England winning the Natwest ODI series cup after India had emerged on top in the Test series.

The teams:

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.

England: Matt Prior, Luke Wright, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (capt), Oaish Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Stuart Broad, Monty Panesar, James Anderson.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Ian Gould (England)

Third Umpire: Peter Hartley (England)

Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)