Strauss made a welcome return to form ahead of Lord's

Opener Andrew Strauss found some form ahead of Thursday's first Test against India with a solid 80 as England Lions drew with India at Chelmsford.

And Stuart Broad marked his call-up to the Test squad with a five-wicket haul.

Broad took 5-76 as India were dismissed for 383 before the Lions made 227-2 declared in their second innings, Owais Shah making a painstaking 77 not out.

Indian opener Dinesh Karthik struck 51 in India's second innings of 91-1 before the game was declared a draw.

The 21-year-old Broad could face the Indians on Thursday if Steve Harmison is ruled out with a hernia problem.

The Leicestershire paceman finished India off with a spell of 3-10 in seven balls on a cloudy and oppressive morning.

He had Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth caught, and bowled Mahendra Dhoni for 76

Zaheer was caught behind trying to carve him through the off-side and Sreesanth went two balls later when he guided a catch to second slip.

Dhoni, who hit 10 fours and two sixes, clubbed 10 in two successive balls from the tall youngster before another attempted big hit resulted in an edge on to off-stump.

Strauss, desperate to rediscover his touch after a poor run of scores, immediately looked more confident as he cut and straight-drove Zaheer for fours in the first over.

Denly was out-thought by the seamer, poking an aerial drive to short extra-cover, but Strauss and Owais Shah (43no) took their stand to 80 off 21 overs in confident fashion.

It was ended when off-spinner Ramesh Powar pushed through a flatter delivery which Strauss tried to sweep but succeeded only in under-edging onto the stumps.

Strauss had put on 80 with Middlesex team-mate Shah, who collected six fours and one six as he then dominated an unbroken stand of 87 with Jonathan Trott (31no).