England vs India, 1st Test at London, , Jul 21 2011 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Difficult to see any attack in the world performing better than England's did today. The home side look absolutely fit and prepared for this series whereas India have not. They are notoriously slow starters, though, but they need to a lot better at Trent Bridge.

Michael Atherton leads the presentation ceremony. Starts with medallions for the match officials. Rauf has been outstanding this game and Bowden, but for a couple of late decisions, was also very good.

"Outstanding," smiles Strauss, whose voice is very hoarse. "KP's innings was one of the best I've seen by an England batsmen in a long time. Broad came back well. The wicket was flat, we had to build pressure and stick to it. It's always tough to bowl sides out here on the 5th day, if you're going to do it you have to be very disciplined and I can't praise the bowlers highly enough.

"It was very tough batting conditions on the first morning, as tough as I've encountered here. We back ourselves to bowl teams out, we back ourselves to get 20 wickets. It's hard work on flat wickets but we expect to do that. India are a very very good side, they showed glimpses of that this game and they'll improve as the series continues."

"Considering we missed Zaheer early and that it wasn't spinning much for Harbhajan I was pleased with how the bowlers stuck to it," says Dhoni. "After that it was hard, we missed Sachin who was out with a viral infection and Gambhir got injured so we were in unfamiliar order in the second innings but overall I'm happy with how we played over the five days."

"A few more days [of preparation] would have been really effective because it rained when we got here. But we can't make excuses. Zaheer might bowl at Trent Bridge," he says with a smile, "but we don't know as yet." "I hope not to be bowling, it's a tough job, my whole body hurts from my toe-nail to my head."

Kevin Pietersen is named man of the match "Brilliant for the team," starts Pietersen. "But we know that it is just 1 out of 4. It will be a tough job to dominate this Indian team. It reminded me of 2005 at Old Trafford, it was a special occasion. All bases seem to be covered in this team but we know not to relax."

Right. That's about all from here. I'm drained, that one match has felt like an entire series. What a barmy, brilliant sport Test cricket is. Join us on Friday to do it all again but from me, Sahil Dutta, and from Liam Brickhill, Nitin Sunder, Abhishek Purohit, Dustin Silgardo and George Binoy, that's all for now. Thanks for the emails.

England win by 196 runs Hugely impressive performance from England this game. What a statement to start with on their quest for the No. 1 spot. But for a short spell from Ishant yesterday, England have dominated from start to finish. It's a pithy cliche but this really was a team performance. Man of the match will be a tricky choice. Pietersen? Prior? Broad? Anderson to finish it on the last day? Couldn't begrudge any of them. What about Rahul Dravid, this game might well have been toast a long time ago if it wasn't for his first-innings century. The 2000th Test was vintage, and a model of how the next 2000 should be. The pitch had enough for the best bowlers and compelling cricket followed.

There is barely a man in front of the wicket. No need for Strauss to hold back.

Ishant Sharma is the last man in. He's on a pair and has two balls from Anderson to see out. And about 29 more overs. Strauss not holding back with the field now. Silly point, short leg, and about 16 slips....

So Zaheer Khan waddles his way to the crease. He has Mukund running for him after the hamstring strain he picked up. Probably owes India some grit after turning up to the tour at less than full fitness.

Thanks Nitin. How are the nerves? If this goes the full way we'll be reduced to incomprehensible wittering. I'm almost there; it has been an intense day. 31 overs to go. Still much too early to start the count down. What was Harbhajan doing? Any clues? Broad has Praveen, the slips a gully and short leg in his sights.

Time for drinks then, and I shall hand over to Sahil Dutta who will take you through to the end of the match.

NP: "These two play for the same state. But how many times have they ever batted let alone played the same match? My guess - zero." Don't think so, Raina's played a lot more domestic cricket than you would imagine since his ODI debut.