England produced a polished all-round display to beat India by seven wickets and clinch their one-day series 4-3.

Andrew Flintoff passed a fitness test on his left ankle to take 3-45, while Dimitri Mascarenhas (3-23) was miserly as the tourists were skittled for 187.

Luke Wright and Matt Prior fell for ducks but Ian Bell (36) steadied the reply before Kevin Pietersen (71no) and Paul Collingwood (64no) took over.

They shared an unbroken 114 to ease the hosts to victory with 13.2 overs left.

By Pranav Soneji

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the action at Lord's

e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk (with 'For Pranav Soneji' in the subject) or use 606

So there it is, Paul Collingwood gets his hands on his first piece of silverware as England captain, setting the standard for both Phil Vickery and John Terry. Boys, it's over to you. Thanks to all for tuning in, apologies for the occasional fat finger, but hey, keeps you lot on your toes. All the best and see for you for the World Twenty20.

37th over: Eng 188-3 ENGLAND WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS Zaheer Khan gives up the ghost chasing a Pietersen sweep, which goes for four and Pietersen launches a high straight drive over bowler Powar's head and collects the three winning runs to give England a thrilling 4-3 victory in this keenly contested affair.

36th over: Eng 181-3 Four leg byes off Pietersen's pads, but the highlight is watching Romesh Powar chasing down a punchy back foot drive from KP off Zaheer, the rotund tweaker just about managing to keep the ball from trickling over the boundary.

35th over: Eng 173-3 Oooh this is painful for India. Pietersen opens the face and caresses three runs off Yuvraj through extra cover before playing the exact same shot, only this time it races away for a four. The England squad have gathered on the balcony in anticipation.

"Is it just me, or is Powar a dead ringer for Deep Roy, the Oompah Loompah geezer from Tim Burton's inferior remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Can I make that comparison without being considered non-PC? I hope so - it wasn't intended as anything other than a looky-likey thought."
Steve M, Kingston

34th over: Eng 166-3 Zaheer's back, not that Colly's bothered by his left-arm antics. First he wallops an on drive through mid-wicket and then marmalises a short delivery to deep square for two successive fours.

Someone's whacked up the air conditioning again and me digits are experiencing the onset of frostbite, hence my feeble excuse for yet another fantastical score, how's about 1453-3 from 323 overs? Whadda game... Apologies all.

33rd over: Eng 157-3 Pietersen rocks on to the back foot and eases the ball to the deep mid-wicket for three very comfortable runs. The runs are coming from everywhere and barring something on a par with a Dick Francis Devon Loch-style collapse, tis in the bag.

"He has taken to this captaincy lark pretty well I think."
Phil Tufnell on Paul Collingwood on TMS

32nd over: Eng 153-3 Rank, wide long-hop from Chawla and Colly's all over that like the last French Fancy at tea, the ball races away for four and the game is pretty much up for the Indians. A single to mid-on sees Colly score his 17th one-day 50.

31st over: Eng 145-3 Pietersen brings up his 50 with an expansive cover drive, despite a moment of madness at the start of the over attempting to flay Powar into next week.

30th over: Eng 141-3 Chawla mixes up the googlies and top spinners, but Colly pounces on two leg stump half volleys for successive boundaries. His hands are getting closer to his first piece of silverware as England captain.

"Given that 90% of British males will be relegated by the missus to the spare room or the sofa tonight, I expect the global population will experience a much need downward trend in nine months time. However the ozone layer may be terminally injured by noxious emissions from both ends of aforementioned British males later on, it's a double-edged ecological conundrum."
Terry, Cardiff

29th over: Eng 133-3 The game is rapidly slipping away from India, Pietersen walks down the wicket and dispatches Powar for a straight four to move to 49 and England need 55 to win.

28th over: Eng 127-3 Dravid throws the ball to Chawla, but his bag of tricks is redundant as Colly nudges two more into the leg side.

"I think we can safely say Steve McClaren's tactical genius will provide suitable contraception this evening..."
Paul Sawyer, North Notts

27th over: Eng 125-3 Things are looking increasingly forlorn for Rahul Dravid, Powar's not exactly causing the heart to skip a little faster, although the England duo are happily gorging on four more runs from that Powar over.

"My wife's gone out for the afternoon and left me at home with our eight-week old daughter with strict instructions to feed her at 5, then bath her at 6. Do I have reasonable grounds for divorce?
Jim, Birmingham

26th over: Eng 121-3 Wallop! Colly lays into a huge six over square leg from the last ball of RP Singh's over to put a serious dent into his figures.

"Sadie Frost was married to Gary Kemp (re 23rd over), seems like the anti-Sadie Frost society."
Dave, Liverpool

25th over: Eng 115-3 Two commanding cover drives for four from Collingwood off Powar and things are looking rosy for England. The second is particularly impressive, skipping down the track with an authoritative thump.

24th over: Eng 106-3 More off side cutting shenanigans from Collingwood, who collects three more runs with a well-placed stroke behind square off Zaheer. I wonder if the collective other halves of millions of men up and down the country will be banging their heads against walls to ensure that headache arrives at just the right time tonight - ie 11:30pm as hubby/boyf dumps the half-eaten kebab in the sink heading for the boudoir...

"Be interesting to see the birth-rate statistics for nine months time should England manage to win the cricket, rugby and football all in one day..."
Andrew, Khartoum

23rd over: Eng 103-3 Celebs ahoy at Lord's as the Sky cameras picks out ladies favourite Jude Law and his son, sitting alongside errrr, Gary Kemp formerly of Spandau Ballet fame, you know, the other one who isn't Steve Owen off Eastenders. Romesh Powar's first over goes for three, a well executed late cut from Colly produced the runs.

22nd over: Eng 100-3 A single down to third man off Zaheer brings up the England 100. After the cut and shut job of the first few overs, the innings is starting to look healthier than a grass sandwich.

"I've got my TV from the bedroom down to the lounge next to my other TV ready for the footy and rugby ko at 5, laptop at the ready for the cricket. You might think I'm all sorted but after a potentially great day for English sport I want to go out and celebrate with the lads, and ideas how I can get rid of the missus for the evening?"
Named withheld to protect the poor bloke from a pasting from his missus

21st over: Eng 97-3 Colly reads a Chawla googly and guides the ball down to the third man boundary for three before Pietersen skips two steps down the track and spanks the ball high into the stands for a supreme six. Chawla bowls the next one flat and fast and Pietersen turns it round the corner for two then makes room for himself on the leg side to bosh the last ball of the over to deep point for four. Excellent over for England, 15 very useful runs to accelerate the run rate.

20th over: Eng 82-3 Zaheer Khan comes back into the attack, but the middle-order duo milk four singles with no alarm.

19th over: Eng 78-3 Massive appeal from the Indians as Chawla thinks he has scraped the edge of Collingwood's bat on way to Dhoni's orange gloves, but umpire Dar isn't having any of it. He aborts another appeal, this time a bat-pad effort at short leg from the final ball of his over.

18th over: Eng 77-3 Tense times out in the middle, Colly edges Ganguly for single while Pietersen looks as if he's being reminded of his horrific calling record at every available opportunity by the ever chipper Indians. Still, England edge a little closer to the target.

"Linda, Scotland, sounds like my sister-in-law. I am doing the same except for the knitting bit as men cannot multi-task.
PS - Scotland have just scored...
Stuart, Aberdeen, Scotland

17th over: Eng 74-3 Good over from Chawla, who gives Colly a working over. Maiden.

16th over: Eng 74-3 WICKET! Bell run out 36 What a kerfuffle - Pietersen drops the ball to mid-wicket, calls for a single, stalls before pegging it back into his crease to safety. Unfortunately Ian Bell isn't quite so lucky, a good throw from Tendulkar finds Sourav Ganguly, who whips off the bails at the bowler's end as Bell stretches every limb in hope of reaching his ground. Third umpire Peter Hartley flashes the red light and it's the end of Bell's very promising innings. In comes captain Colly.

15th over: Eng 72-2 For those of you missing your dose of Dirs and Fordyce tomfoolery, the Gallic conquerors have just filed their latest blog here (for website users only):

14th over: Eng 66-2 Pietersen sneaks two cheeky runs off Ganguly with a thick outside edge down to the third man boundary. He's not looking particularly fluent right now.

"I'm not a golf widow. My hubby hates all sports so he has disappeared to the pub. I'm following the cricket, flicking between the rugby and football, drinking a beer and knitting. That's a whole lot of multi-tasking."
Linda, Scotland

13th over: Eng 63-2 Snorter from Chawla, who beats Pietersen all ends up a vicious spinning leg break. Pietersen looks a bit like Bambi on ice playing the teenager, who has more variations than our office air conditioning unit.

12th over: Eng 62-2 Sourav Ganguly comes on and immediately dishes out the tastiest of dibbly dobbly half-trackers and Bell unfurls another text-book pull for four.

11th over Eng 57-2: On comes Piyush Chawla for wrist spin mischief. He starts with a loosener, which Bell drives up to long-off for two. Village fielding, this time from Robin Uthappa, sees Bell pick up an easy single. Bit of argy bargy going on somewhere in the crowds, not too sure what the ruckus is about though.

"Am I the only thankful golf widow who can enjoy this without manly interruptions?"
Chrissy, North Notts

10th over Eng 54-2: Rank long-hop outside off stump is seized upon by Pietersen, who tucks in to the buffet offering by dismissing the ball to the cover boundary. A smart piece of fielding off his own bowling saves RP four runs, but clever running between the wickets sees everyone's favourite South African-born Englishman collect four with two twos.

9th over Eng 45-2: There he goes again, Bell rocks on to the back foot and eases another lucid, nonchalant pull shot in to the vacant square leg boundary off Zaheer. The left-armer decides to go around the wicket and has a useful looking lbw shout turned down by umpire Aleem Dar. Replays show the ball JUST ABOUT would have clipped leg stump, but you're never going to get those given in your favour, especially bowling wide of the crease.

8th over Eng 40-2: Pietersen flicks a leg-side ball to fine leg for two, but he's not looking his typically boisterous and ebullient self, unlike Ian Bell, who looks as if Sr Vivian Richards has done a 'Quantum Leap' into his body and batting like it's Antigua on a sun-baked strip. The Warwickshire man unleashes another beautiful pull for four off the final ball of the day.

"This 'extras' fella is having a blinder. Is he going to the World Twenty20?"
Sarah, Bucks

7th over Eng 33-2: Beautiful shot from Bell, who punches the ball past the tumbling Gautam Gambhir for the most elegant four of the day. Zaheer responds with a lifter which evades the outside edge. But Bell gets his own back with a lovely pull shot to the vacant square leg boundary for another four.

6th over Eng 24-2: Good over from RP, who is giving Pietersen no room to extend his arms. Just a single from the over.

5th over Eng 23-2: Pietersen picks up three thanks to a misfield from Piyush Chawla in the deep. A couple of singles add two more runs to the total. Nothing of real note from the Zaheer over, although he's having absolutely no joy getting the white pill to move, especially considering he was swinging that red thing like a monkey in the jungle.

Much kudos (got that right this time) to Alan Wagstaff, who writes in to say Henry V's famous speech was made at the Siege of Harfleur, not the Battle of Agincourt.

4th over Eng 18-2: Pietersen tucks the ball behind square and scampers through for a tight two, a worrying sight after his run out debacle from Wednesday. The rest of the over is slightly less stressful, the pair take a very well-judged single off the last ball of the over.

3rd over: Eng 11-2 Zaheer Khan now has his two least favourite England cricketers at the crease and he takes his second over up a notch with six deliveries right on the Jelly Beans. Maiden over.

2nd over: Eng 11-2 WICKET! Prior c Dhoni b RP Singh 0 Oh dear - Prior edges a ball from RP outside off stump into Dhoni's gloves. The Indians must be loving this. It's not clever from England as Kevin Pietersen takes a bit of time to join Bell at the crease. Eventful over which saw two wickets, as well as five wides courtesy of a shocking delivery which evaded the diving Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar at first slip.

2nd over: Eng 10-1 WICKET! Wright c and b RP Singh 0 Absolute pig's ear of a shot from Luke Wright, who miscues a pull straight high into the sky straight into the grateful hands of bowler RP Singh. Not clever from the 22-year-old. Out strolls Ian Bell to the crease, who gets off the mark with a confident dab to third man.

1st over Eng 5-0 : England get their first runs on the board thanks to four leg byes off Matt Prior's thigh pad, although RP Singh did not fancy diving into the slope to save a run. No runs off the bat as Zaheer bowls the first wide of the match.

1427: The Indians are in a huddle and no doubt Rahul Dravid is doing a passable impression of Shakespeare's Henry V as he roused his troops before the Battle of Agincourt. "Once more unto the crease dear friends..."

47.3 overs: Ind 187 all out WICKET! Dhoni ct Anderson b Flintoff 50 Superb low diving catch from Anderson running around from long-off after Dhoni attempts to give Flintoff the big heave-ho. Brilliant bowling performance from the all-rounder, who picks up his third wicket. The Indian innings will begin in exactly 30 minutes. Settle down for a humdinger of a finale. I'm off to stab various forms of cardboard vegetables in the name of nutrition from the BBC canteen (gotta watch those sausage fingers). See you soon.

47th over: Ind 187-9 Lovely shot from Dhoni, who opens his shoulders and plunders Anderson's first ball into the MCC community room. A brilliant diving stop from Ian Bell in the covers saves two runs as Dhoni pushes for the 200-mark. A thick edge gives Dhoni his 50, who is single-handedly maintaining India's hopes of clinching this enthralling series.

46th over: Ind 178-9 Dhoni absolutely launches into a Monty full-toss and hits it straight at umpire Aleem Dar, who leaps like an Olympic gymnast to avoid the exocet straight off the screws for four. He then follows that up with a tasty cut shot for another boundary. RP successfully manages to see out the final ball of the over - an absolute ripper than pitched around leg and missed off - and the outside of RP's bat.

45th over: Ind 169-9 Singh shanks a four-iron down to third man for a single off Broad, not that he gives a Bombay Duck about the aesthetics of that stroke. Dhoni drives a full-toss to long-on, but just the two from the over.

44th over: Ind 167-9 Top bowling from Monty, who beats Dhoni with a beauty which turns from middle stump. Dhoni eschews an easy single from the fourth ball and regrets his decision as Panesar bowls out a very, very good maiden. And more importantly for England, it's new batsman RP Singh on strike next over.

43rd over: Ind 167-9 As envisaged, Dhoni is giving it the Larry Dooley to Stuart Broad with a scythe to deep point for two before a hefty pull to deep square leg. Dhoni nicks the strike with a well-judged single. Ooooh, this is good - a rampant Dhoni against Monty, alight and stand well back...

"Hmmmm I think the All Blacks might post a higher score than India."
Ian in a still soggy Stockholm

42nd over: Ind 160-8 WICKET! Zaheer bowled Panesar 7 Stupid shot from Zaheer, who attempts to mow Panesar to Jupiter and inevitably completely misses the ball, much to Monty's delight, who embarks on one of his jigs of joy. I can see Dhoni unleashing the beast, well at least there'll be some entertainment.

41st over: Ind 157-8 The Indian running between the wickets has gone from not very good to farcical in a matter of minutes. The pair stop/start more often than the District line in winter but only manage to avoid another run out as Paul Collingwood was on his backside when he threw the ball. And Colly then drops a tough chance as Zaheer cuts - hard - to point. Colly, diving to his right, gets hands on it but can't hold on.

40th over: Ind 155-8 Almost another run out as Zaheer Khan scampers back into his ground after an ill-judged single call from a well directed Flintoff delivery. Dhoni sends him back but it's only a missed shy at the stumps that keeps Zaheer at the crease. The pair eke out three not very pretty singles.

39th over: Ind 147-8 WICKET! Chawla stumped Prior b Mascarenhas 0 Beautiful piece of keeping from Prior as Piyush Chawla attempts to drive Dimi M through cover. Umpire Dar doesn't even need to go to the third umpire as Chawla's back foot was miles out of its ground when the bails were whipped off. In strides Zaheer Khan, who nicks an edge which just evades a diving Paul Collingwood at slip for four. Really top spell from Mascarenhas, three for 23. Ind 152-8

38th over: Ind 147-7 WICKET! Powar run out 10 Powar takes a suicidal run after Dhoni nurdles a ball round to Owais Shah on the 45. Shah throws in and Prior whips the bails off as Powar dives full stretch to make his ground. The rotund spinster looks sheepish and third umpire Peter Hartley confirms Powar was inches short of his ground. All this after another tight run out appeal when Dhoni smashed a looper straight back at Panesar, who managed to get a hand onto the ball as it displaced the timbers. But umpire Hartley rightly said Romesh Powar was just within his ground. Not that it matters a jot now.

37th over: Ind 147-6 Dhoni chops Dimi M to Luke Wright on the deep cover boundary for four. Powar then plays a smart flick off his pads for four to enliven the dormant Indian contingent, who haven't had too much to get noisy about, apart from booing dodgy caught behind decisions.

36th over: Ind 142-6 Monty's back on for Flintoff and Dhoni dispatches a poor long-hop outside off stump to the deep point boundary. Nice looking shot, lots of wrist reminiscent of Indian batsman of yore.

35th over: Ind 137-6 Good quick single from Dhoni, who sprints through for the run. Powar then slaps Mascarenhas straight down the ground, but manages to get more height than distance and the pair trot through for a couple.

34th over: Ind 134-6 Another tidy over from Flintoff, just three runs from the over.

33rd over: Ind 131-6 Three singles off a very unmemorable Mascarenhas over, watching the middle overs in one-day cricket is like having to endure two hours of Roger Whittaker whistling into a megaphone while handcuffed to a child's chair.

32nd over: Ind 128-6 Collingwood brings back Flintoff to try and finish the rather long Indian tail off. Sunil Gavaskar reliably informs us on TMS that Powar has a couple of first-class tons under his belt in Ranji Trophy cricket. A nice looking straight drive off Freddie's last ball sees the Indians tootle three runs to the total.

31st over: WICKET! Ind 119-6 Yuvraj c Collingwood b Mascarenhas Disaster strikes for India just two balls after the drinks break as Yuvraj guides an innocuous ball into the glue-like hands of Paul Collingwood at gully. The rotund and thoroughly entertaining Romesh Powar is the new man at the crease. A few leg byes see the extras column move into double figures to 11. Ind 122-6

"Do I dare to dream of a glorious Saturday for English sport yet?"
Adrian in 40 degree heat, Kazakhstan

30th over: Ind 119-5 UV hits the first boundary for 10 overs with a deft sweep to the deep square leg boundary off the Montster. It's not pretty cricket from the Indian big-hitters, a couple of singles keep the scoreboard ticking.

29th over: Ind 112-5 'MS' is cricket's equivalent of Lord Flashheart from Blackadder - "Is that a bat in your hand or are you happy to see me?" as the entire female population of India throw their various smalls at the TV with the long-haired lothario at the crease. But he can't do much about Mascarenhas's laser-guided six balls.

28th over: Ind 110-5 Another tight over from Panesar, Dhoni collects the solitary single. England well on top.

27th over: Ind 109-5 Maiden from Mascarenhas, who is bowling like a dream. Yuvraj can't buy a run for toffee. A little quiet at Lord's, the usually jubilant Indian fans are probably tucking into the four billion pakoras and samosas packed for this thriller.

26th over: Ind 109-5 'Monty Time' and 'UV' attempts to place Panesar's first ball into Mrs Edna Wilson of East Grinstead's second glass of slightly warm Cava in the Mound Stand, but manages to completely miss it. Nevertheless, he fashions a couple of singles, along with the Dhonimeister.

25th over: Ind 106-5 WICKET! Uthappa ct Anderson b Mascarenhas 22Mascarenhas gets the breakthrough as Uthappa plays an aerial drive into the safe hands of James Anderson at mid-off. Really good captaincy from Collingwood, who decided against operating long-on and long-off. In ambles ladies favourite Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who probably has his heart in his mouth after surviving a very confident lbw appeal from Mascarenhas.

24th over: Ind 105-4 Uthappa pulls an aerial ball down to the deep mid-wicket boundary and the pair are beginning to build a decent platform, although both are prone to the occasional rush of blood to the head. Uthappa collects through with a nice looking shot through mid-on. Hundred up for India.

Pranav, '892-4 (22 overs)' - is this a world record or a fat finger?
Matthew

Now you come to mention it, the right digit is like a bit sausagey these days. Can you put a finger on a diet?

23rd over: Ind 98-4 They're looking edgy these Indian batsmen, but Collingwood is cleverly keeping most of the fielders inside the circle, and runs are not at all easy to come by in this Mascarenhas over.

22nd over: Ind 97-4 Luke Wright comes on for his first over in international cricket. Nice, bustly action, not too dissimilar to former Lancashire and England chunkster Ian Austin, but without the extra "dead weight". He gets Uthappa to play and miss a short delivery outside off stump, but the Indian hero from The Oval guides the last ball of the over down to third man to nick the strike from UV.

21st over: Ind 92-4 All powerplays over, Collingwood turns to Dimitri Mascarenhas with his brand of dibbly dobblies. Nothing of note, three runs from that over.

20th over: Ind 89-4 No balls ahoy from Flintoff, although Uthappa steams down the pitch attempting to mow Freddie to Camden Town, but completely misses. Freddie wasn't impressed by that, but the Robster goes all conventional and plays a lovely cut for four. Uthappa then top edges a short ball fine for four, but Freddie gets his own back with a lively play-and-miss outside off stump. The England players go up for another appeal, but Mr Dar isn't interested. Freddie then possibly asks Uthappa if he was named after the third Gibb brother from the Bee Gees.

19th over: Ind 79-4 Uthappa manages to fashion four leg byes off his thigh pad, while the pair exchange a few singles to keep the score ticking along. Stu Broad, like his Lancashire bowling colleagues, is giving nothing away.

"You clearly have been gagging to use it but you still haven't got it right, old chap. Apropos basically means 'in relation to' or 'pertaining to'. Try putting that into your sentence below."
Andrew Farmer

Can I blame the air conditioning again? Or is it my conker-sized brain?

More apologies for the errant finger - 560 off 17 overs - it's the increasingly bloodless digits - blame the air conditioning unit set to Siberia above me...

18th over: Ind 72-4 Definitely cosh time for the Indians. Crafty and canny fielding from Ian Bell, who chases an Uthappa drive in the covers. Bell goes down to slide a good three or four yards from the ball, which forces the Indians to abort the second run. Never seen that before. More probing stuff from Flintoff, who is getting lift and bounce as if it's 2005 all over again.

17th over: Ind 67-4 Yuvraj thumps a short Broad delivery to the mid-wicket boundary for six, there was some serious altitude on that pull shot. He tries to do the same again two balls later but only manages to displaces millions of tiny molecules rather than leather and stitching.

16th over: Ind 60-4 WICKET! Tendulkar ct Prior b Flintoff 30 Tendulkar edges another ripper from Flintoff to Prior and the England players are delirious. Tendulkar is incredulous - he's standing there, open-mouthed, in utter disbelief. The replays suggest the noise could have come from contact between the bat and front pad, rather than bat and ball. "Courtesy call for Mr Snicko..." Tendulkar had picked up four runs earlier in the over thanks to a thick outside edge. Robin Uthappa is the new man at the crease. Corrrrr, this could be 2002 all over again. But with Uthappa as Mohammed Kaif.

"Bossman thinks its bad for him?! I'm stuck about 1000 miles from home with a day of laundry and flat cleaning ahead, and only the Gilmore Girls on TV! And it's raining. And the only highlight on TV tonight is Sweden V Denmark..."
Ian in a rainy grey expensive-alcoholwise Stockholm.

15th over: Ind 53-3 Another fantastic over from Anderson and Tendulkar's retreated into his shell. I, on the other hand, wish I had a shell as I'm sitting directly under the air conditioning vent wearing shorts and am rapidly losing all feeling in my limbs. My colleague sitting next to me is discussing Portuguese legal terms, it's all go in here. 'Snicko' has just confirmed there was bat involved in Dravid's dismissal, so apropos (I've been gagging to use that word for days) to umpire Dar.

"Just to wind you up Bossman I am currently sitting on a Laz-y-boy style chair, watching the cricket with a rather naughty morning cider in hand half snoozing and half watching the boys - enjoy the in laws matey!!"
Rob, Enfield

14th over: Ind 53-3 WICKET! Dravid ct Prior b Flintoff 0 Excellent bowling from Flintoff, who cuts Dravid in half to Prior, everyone's up appealing and umpire Aleem Dar sticks his right index finger up, much to Dravid's disgust. The Indian captain is shaking his head walking off the field, he's not the type to dispute a decision, so some controversy about that. Yuvraj Singh wanders in and gets a rip-snorter first up from Flintoff, who's looking as good as a Scarlett Johansson sandwich right now.

13th over: Ind 52-2 WICKET! Gambhir ct Wright b Anderson 12 Gambhir rocks onto his back foot and middles a shortish Anderson delivery, but also manages to find the middle of Luke Wright's hands at short mid-wicket. The Sussex man takes an excellent low catch just millimetres from the lush Lord's turf. Top stuff from England this morning. In strolls captain Rahul Dravid.

12th over: Ind 50-1 Freddie gets the second biggest cheer of the day - Monty's first touch of the ball will always get the biscuit - and is beautifully dispatched by Tendulkar through point for a thumping four. The little man takes a step to his left to create room to swing the bat for the stroke. He does the same again the very next delivery, only this time narrowly avoiding Kevin Pietersen in the covers. No real look of discomfort from Freddie, which can only be a good thing.

11th over: Ind 41-1 Gambhir turns a leg-side delivery down to Monty at fine leg for two,. Everyone's favourite tweaker is greeted with his customary cheer. A little staid from the Indian batsman, but that's cos the bowling is more than useful.

10th over: Ind 38-1 Maiden from Stuart Broad, who's giving our Gautam a good ol' testing out. Had a conversation the other day about misheard music lyrics reminiscing about my mate Normski who thought the lyrics to Soul 2 Soul's "Back to Life" went "Mussolini, Mussolini of life".

9th over Ind 37-1: Another good over from Anderson, who is bowling like a dream right now. Apologies to all for the 235-1 off eight overs, a slip of the finger. Although I may get a very angry call from the NHS demanding why there is a 4000% increase of A&E admissions clutching sort from of portable computer/mobile device...

"How sad is this on the scale of 1 to 10? Stuck around the in-laws; 250 miles from home; great sport on TV and they do not have the sports channel."
BossMan

I feel your pain BossMan, however I'm guessing you're not the only man in this utterly disastrous conundrum. Has anyone else out there been issued a three-line whip to do what the War Office says which doesn't involve any form of sport watching?

8th over Ind 35-1: Lordy, India's comedy capers running between the wicket knows no bounds, Gautam Gambhir drops the ball by his feet, calls for a quick single, hesitates before desperately pelting it to the other end hoping that Stuart Broad's throw will miss the stumps. It does and no-one is backing up and the ball rolls on its merry way to the boundary for four overthrows. Had Broad hit the timbers, Gambhir would have been out by a couple of feet. Tendulkar plays a confident looking drive for a single, but apart from the earlier antics, nothing of real note.

7th over Ind 26-1: WICKET! Ganguly ct Flintoff b Anderson 15 With his ridiculous quota of fortune all consumed, Ganguly tamely edges to Flintoff's buckethands at second/third/fourth slip (he's big enough to fill all three positions). A very unattractive innings comes to an end. Gautam Gambhir strides to the wicket and the left-hander gets off the mark with a thick outside edge to third man. Tendulkar gets a leading edge straight past Anderson, who can't contort his body into an unfathomable position to take the catch, two more runs to Tendulks. Ind: 29-1

6th over Ind 26-0: Whoever Ganguly has been praying to, it's working. First he top edges an aborted pull behind Matt Prior for two before top edging between point and third man attempting to slap Broad once again through the covers.

5th over Ind 21-0: Really lively start from Anderson, who's getting plenty of bounce from the Pavilion End. A good probing over is somewhat spoiled by a hooked four from the last ball of the over from Tendulkar. The 'Bombay Badboy' swats it round to fine leg, but just manages to evade Stuart Broad. Interesting as Tendulkar said before the start of the tour he's not going to play that particular shot. If you fish long enough in one area, something's going to bite...

4th over Ind 17-0 : Ganguly has clearly had enough of looking like a bunny with a very expensive piece of willow in his hand - he skips down the wicket and slaps Stu Broad through the covers for four. That probably would've gone for eight were it not stopped by the boards. He then turns a leg-side delivery off his hips for another four to fine leg. These two had a bit of niggle the other day, apparently Stuart Broad was telling Ganguly that the Klaxons fully deserved the Mercury Music Prize, while Ganguly was absolutely disgusted that a new rave band could win modern music's top accolade as he had a tenner on Bat For Lashes. Maybe.

3rd over Ind 9-0 : More slapstick batting from Ganguly, who gets a short Anderson ball flush on the helmet, cue comedy-style tweety birds flying around the Prince of Calcutta's tin lid. He top-edges another short ball, which once again drops short of a fielder. Tendulkar has no such issues, caressing a beautiful drive through the covers. Three more runs from that over.

2nd over Ind 6-0 : Ganguly plays a horrid waft outside off stump to Stuart Broad's first ball of the day, gets an under side edge which isn't too far from his off stump. He manages to rotate the strike with another aesthetically ugly Chinese cut. Another leg-side nurdle sees Tendulkar pick up a couple of more runs. Tendulkar is looking classy, Ganguly's looking farcey.

1st over Ind 3-0 : Absolute ripper from James Anderson first up, a short bouncer right into Ganguly's heart and the ball balloons off the top of the bat, is aerial for a good few seconds, but agonisingly drops short of the onrushing Matt Prior. He gets the innings on the way with a nudge off the hips, while Tendulkar adds a couple with a wristy flick off the pads. Not much movement, but plenty of bounce.

1013: So it's come to this - Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly walk out as the England boys go in for the huddle, Paul Collingwood potentially going with something along the lines of 'hurry up and get this over with, I want to see the footy and rugby later'. Maybe. Or maybe not.

1007: India have ditched the leaky Ajit Agarkar for the left-arm wiles of RP Singh, the only change from The Oval thriller on Wednesday.

"He's raring to go and 100%."
England captain Paul Collingwood on Andrew Flintoff's return.

1002: Apparently there's some other sport on today, not too sure what though. Looks like Luke Wright will open the batting with his Sussex team-mate Matt Prior, which is what many of you have been bashing your keyboards about judging by the emails you've sent in.

"I had to think about it, but we've done well batting first."
India captain Rahul Dravid on winning the toss

"Having Freddie back in the bowling attack will be a big boost for England. I'm also glad Wright has kept his place ahead of Cook. Now a good start is needed and today could be a fantastic day for English sport!"
Tim, Manchester

0956: Morning all. Ding Dong! Now how's about this for a finale - Fredrique back from his various injury woes and India are batting first at Lord's. Now this is interesting, like night on the tiles with Errol Flynn, there's bound to be a few tales to tell come the end of the day.