Close India 221 and 397 all out (Agarkar 109*, Laxman 74, Dravid 63)lost to England 487 and 301 for 6 dec by 170 runs
scorecard

It took longer than expected, but England went 1-0 up in the series with a thumping 170-run win over India at Lord's. India's lower order enjoyed their last dance, batting with the nothing-to-lose abandonment of men heading for a cast-iron appointment with the gallows, but there was only ever going to be one winner here.

The last four wickets had yielded 227 when Craig White wrapped things up by having Ashish Nehra taking in the slips by Graham Thorpe. The sting came mainly from Ajit Agarkar, who slammed a defiant maiden Test century. Every Indian fan knew Agarkar had talent with the bat, but before this he had not shown it - his Test batting average was 7.47.

Agarkar added 126 for the seventh wicket with VVS Laxman, who started the day with some beautiful strokes off the back foot and looked good for a century himself. A slightly flat England took the new ball after 12 overs of the day, but there was little sense that a wicket was coming until Laxman drove Simon Jones to Michael Vaughan. Not for the first time, Jones had picked up a big wicket early in a new spell. And not for the first time, lazy footwork had cost Laxman. He was gone for 74 and India were 296 for 7.

Matthew Hoggard struck next, snaffling a leading-edge from Anil Kumble (15) off his own bowling (320 for 8), his seventh wicket of a very good personal performance. And soon after it was nearly all over as White made short work of Zaheer Khan, whose attemped steer went straight to Alec Stewart (334 for 9).

At that stage the match seemed unlikely to go beyond lunch, but Agarkar and Nehra had other ideas. In all they added 63, a record for India's tenth wicket against England. But though Agarkar studded his century with 16 crisp fours, the shot of the day came from Nehra: a mighty pull for six off Andrew Flintoff that caused much mirth on the Indian balcony.

When Agarkar reached his century, he fisted the afternoon air with delight and a tinge of disbelief. This really was an improbable performance - not only had he bowled like a drain earlier in the match, but in 18 previous Test innings Agarkar had mustered only 127 runs (including that infamous run of five consecutive golden ducks against Australia).

Agarkar's performance brought to mind another maiden Test century in a losing cause in an England-India Test: Chris Lewis's, at Madras in 1992-93. Ultimately that meant nothing - especially as Lewis never managed another one - and beautifully though he batted here, Agarkar was whistling in the dark from the first ball.

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