KEY POINTS:
BIRMINGHAM - England made short work of a long India tail at Edgbaston on Tuesday (NZ time) to win the third one-day international by 42 runs and take a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series.
India, chasing 282 to win, matched the required strike rate when their specialist batsmen were at the crease but the lower order were unable to maintain the momentum.
After reaching 190 for four, the visitors collapsed to 239 all out from 48.1 overs in reply to England's 281 for eight.
England's innings was anchored by Warwickshire's Ian Bell, who struck 79 off 89 balls with two sixes on his home ground. It was his third consecutive ODI score in excess of 50.
The home team got away to a fine start, racing to 76 in 14 overs after Rahul Dravid had won the toss and decided to field on a fine, sunny morning.
Matt Prior (34 from 40 balls) again got a start but failed to carry on and the introduction of spinners Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla soon accounted for Alastair Cook (40) and an unusually hesitant Kevin Pietersen (9).
Cook swept too soon at off-spinner Powar and was caught at square-leg by Yuvraj Singh while Pietersen was adroitly stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pushing forward at a looping delivery from 20-year-old leg-spinner Chawla.
Captain Paul Collingwood helped Bell steady things with a knock of 44 in 53 balls before he was caught off Powar from an ugly reverse sweep.
Collingwood had been fortunate to survive a confident lbw appeal from part-time spinner Yuvraj.
Powar finished with two for 45 from his 10 overs while Chawla claimed one for 50.
India lost Sachin Tendulkar (8) and Dinesh Karthik (0) in consecutive overs, with the former succumbing to James Anderson for the fifth time during the English summer.
Sourav Ganguly and Dravid rescued the innings with a partnership of 104 in 19 overs, reaching their half-centuries in the same over.
Ganguly took four boundaries off an Anderson over and Dravid was almost as severe on Stuart Broad, striking three fours in another.
Dravid reached his 81st one-day half-century and Ganguly his 69th.
Chris Tremlett, who had been expensive, returned to bowl Dravid for 56 before surprising Ganguly with extra bounce outside the off-stump.
The left-hander had reached 72 from 104 deliveries when he tried to run the ball down to third man only to edge to wicketkeeper Prior.
Anderson then returned to take the wicket of Dhoni (13).
England all-rounders Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas were ruled out through injury.
Flintoff injured a knee fielding in the second one-dayer while Mascarenhas took a blow on his hand during the warm-up. They were replaced by batsman Owais Shah and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.
SCOREBOARD
England
A Cook c Yuvraj b Powar 40
M Prior c Chawla b Patel 34
I Bell c Karthik b RP Singh 79
K Pietersen st Dhoni b Chawla 9
P Collingwood c sub b Powar 44
O Shah b Yuvraj 19
R Bopara c Dravid b RP Singh 10
S Broad c Yuvraj b RP Singh 10
C Tremlett not out 19
J Anderson not out 0
Extras (4nb, 7w, 1b, 51b) 17
Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 281
Fall: 76, 92, 118, 193, 226, 246, 255, 273.
Bowling: Z Khan 10-0-49-0 (2w), RP Singh 9-1-55-3 (2w), M Patel 5-0-37-1 (4nb), R Powar 10-0-45-2 (3w), P Chawla 9-0-50-1, Y Singh 7-0-39-1.
India
S Ganguly c Prior b Tremlett 72
S Tendulkar c Collingwood b Anderson 8
K Karthik c Cook b Broad 0
R Dravid b Tremlett 56
Y Singh run out 45
M Dhoni c Collingwood b Anderson 13
R Powar c Bell b Collingwood 5
P Chawla c Bell b Collingwood 1
Z Khan b Panesar 11
R Singh not out 12
M Patel b Anderson 1
Extras (10lb, 3w, 2nb) 15
Total (48.1 overs) 239
Fall: 35, 36, 140, 149, 190, 210, 213, 214, 234, 239.
Bowling: S Broad 9-1-34-1 (1w), J Anderson 9.1-3-32-3, C Tremlett 8-0-57-2 (2nb, 1w), M Panesar 10-0-50-1, P Collingwood 10-0-45-2 (1w), R Bopara 2-0-12-0.
Result: England win by 42 runs, India lead seven-match series 2-1.
- REUTERS
