Khan bowled well early on

Zaheer Khan produced an inswinger to trap Michael Vaughan lbw in the second over of the day without a run on the board, and proceeded to bowl four consecutive maidens.

Ashish Nehra beat the bat regularly, but Mark Butcher and Hussain dug in to add 71 for the second wicket.

Butcher should have been run out on eight, but VVS Laxman missed the stumps from cover and the ball went for four over throws.

Leg spinner Anil Kumble dismissed Butcher for 29 just before lunch, with Wasim Jaffer taking a diving catch at short leg to snaffle a bat-pad chance.

England started the afternoon session badly when Graham Thorpe played down the wrong line and was bowled by Khan for four.

The recalled Crawley joined his captain with England on 78-3 and, despite involuntarily edging Khan twice past the slip cordon, soon settled in and showed his class against the leg spin of Anil Kumble.

Ajit Agarkar was picked in place of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, but soon found himself struggling with a toe injury and gifted both batsmen with a succession of boundaries.

Crawley repaid the England selectors

Crawley reached his 50 just after tea and Hussain notched his 11th Test ton shortly afterwards off 192 balls, including 19 boundaries.

Ganguly turned to the occasional off-spin of Virender Sehwag, who claimed his first Test wicket when Crawley tried to cut but steered the ball tamely to Rahul Dravid to first slip on 64.

Alec Stewart drew a standing ovation as he strode to the wicket in his 119th Test, breaking Graham Gooch's record to become the most capped England player.

Stewart played with discretion and remained unbeaten on 19 at the close as England mustered 257-4.

England: N Hussain (capt), MA Butcher, MP Vaughan, GP Thorpe, JP Crawley, AJ Stewart (wkt), A Flintoff, C White, AF Giles, MJ Hoggard, SP Jones.

India: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), VVS Laxman, Ajay Ratra (wkt), Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble.