BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | England strike late double blow

First Test, Lord's, day two (stumps): India 130-3 v England 487 all out

Virender Sehwag hit his third half-century in Tests as India set off well in pursuit of England's 487 on the second evening at Lord's.

Photo Gallery

But the hosts struck twice in the final three overs of the day to regain some of the initiative that had earlier seen a blazing tailend display and a wicket in India's first over.

Sehwag threw his wicket away for 84, gaining an inside edge onto pad and then stumps while looking to drive spinner Ashley Giles through the leg side.

And nightwatchman Ashish Nehra did only half a job, falling lbw to Andrew Flintoff to take India to stumps 357 in arrears.

Sehwag had already done some serious damage, though, taking the dominant role in a partnership of 126 with Rahul Dravid,

His only other major lapse was a top-edged sweep off Giles, which could have provided a catch had it not landed in the grandstand.

Craig White
White hit his third Test half-century
Dravid was more circumspect, ending the day 33 not out from 114 deliveries and awaiting the arrival of Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday morning.

Matthew Hoggard struck with the fourth delivery of the innings, bowling Wasim Jaffer off his pads for a single.

But England failed to take advantage straight away, bringing Giles on early, only to see 28 runs swept off his four-over spell.

Pace bowler Simon Jones offered real pace but little threat, and the occasional wild delivery on his Test debut, conceding 25 from seven overs.

But the Welshman had already made his mark in a run-a-ball eighth wicket partnership of 62 with Craig White.

Kickstart

When Jones was caught at slip for 44, two runs short of his first-class best, White upped his own tempo, adding a further 35 with last man Matthew Hoggard before he was stumped off Anil Kumble for 53.

The Yorkshire allrounder's third Test half-century came off 66 balls with four fours and a slog-sweep six off Kumble.

Nasser Hussain and Andrew Flintoff had dominated much of the morning, adding 93 runs in 19 overs following the early dismissal of Alec Stewart.

But over-confidence saw both men fall to successive deliveries from Agit Agarkar in separate overs.

After a brisk start, and uncharacteristic consolidation, Flintoff opened up with a six over long-on off Kumble, to bring up his first half-century on home soil from 57 deliveries.

Zaheer Khan
Zaheer dismissed Stewart early on
And the big all-rounder fell shortly afterwards, flashing outside off-stump to gain a thin edge to wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra.

Hussain went in similar style, chasing a delivery which was leaving him, straight into Ratra's gloves.

The England captain had already moved, though, from an overnight 120 to pass his best score against India - an innings of 128 at Edgbaston in 1996 - and reach only his second career 150.

His 155 encompassed 331 deliveries, with 25 fours, including several pulls through midwicket off Kumble that forced the left-armer to move around the wicket.

Stewart lasted 15 minutes in the morning without adding to his overnight 19, before falling lbw to Zaheer Khan.

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.