India's performance in the first one-dayer against England can only be termed as directionless. First, their bowlers seemed to have forgotten the art of taking wickets all of a sudden. Then the batsmen, who looked so imperious in the last fortnight, batted like amateurs as India slumped to their first defeat of this tour of England.

Chasing 289 under lights, India could manage only 184, crashing to a 104-run defeat at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday. Earlier, maiden one-day hundreds by Alistair Cook and Ian Bell had guided England to 288 for two after Indian skipper Rahul Dravid asked the hosts to bat first.

The target was indeed a formidable one, but certainly not insurmountable, considering the experience and form of this Indian batting line-up. The pitch too remained true when it was India's turn to bat. However, hopes of a great Indian chase lasted only 15 minutes.

Exit Ganguly
India's downfall started with Sourav Ganguly being run out in bizarre fashion. The Kolkatan attempted a second run with no response from his partner Sachin Tendulkar, and Monty Panesar's throw from mid-off reached stumper Matt Prior before the batsman.

More carnage was in store, and the man who pushed India on to the back foot was James Anderson. The Lancashire bowler tortured the Indian batsmen with pace and swing -- conspicuous by their absence when the Indians were operating -- to snare three of them in a first spell that read 8-1-19-3.

Anderson started his dance of doom, dismissing Gautam Gambhir when he found the batsman's outside edge for Prior to complete an easy catch. The Delhi left-hander's place in the line-up might come up for reconsideration sooner rather than later as Gambhir has not so far shown any promise against a potent bowling attack. It might not be too surprising to see Robin Uthappa return for Friday’s second day-nighter in Bristol.

Anderson, who completed 100 wickets in limited-overs cricket, was no in mood to let the Indians off the hook as he torpedoed their chase with two quick blows in the 12th over. He jettisoned Tendulkar -- the Mumbaikar was extremely uncomfortable against the quick incoming deliveries from Stuart Broad as well -- when Ravi Bopara grabbed the batsman's uppish flick.

Four balls later, Anderson forced Yuvraj Singh to edge one and Cook completed a magnificent catch at gully. India's fate needed no prediction at 34 for four.

Anderson, of course, was the key man for England on the day. But giving full credit to him would be injustice to another Lancastrian.

It was Andrew Flintoff's first one-day match in months, but the burly all-rounder bowled with an intensity and rhythm that belied his absence from top level cricket.

Fiery Freddie
Flintoff did not get a chance to bat and he compensated for that disappointment with a fiery show with the ball, running in smoothly and often clocking more than 90 mph.

He took the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni to make his return all the more memorable. His performance also might have erased any remaining doubts over his fitness, and the England management will take a lot of heart from that.

Dimitri Mascarenhas too joined the celebrations, grabbing his first international wicket. He picked up the prize wicket of Dravid, caught down the leg-side attempting a sweep.

Dravid made 46, and his dismissal ended the Indian resistance. Dravid had milked 68 for the fifth wicket with Dhoni, but their effort came far too slowly to make any impact on the game.

The farcical run outs of Ajit Agarkar and Piyush Chawla brought out India's misery on a day when they failed in all the departments. Having said that, it is not the end of the road for India; they have, in the past, shown the ability to rise from the ashes.

SCORE BOARD
ENGLAND
Cook b RP Singh 102 (126b, 8x4)
Prior c Dravid b Zaheer 19 (31b, 1x6)
Bell (not out) 126  (119b, 10x4)
Pietersen (not out) 33 (25b, 3x4)
Extras (LB-4, W-4) 8
Total (for 2 wkts, 50 overs) 288
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Prior), 2-221 (Cook).
Bowling: Zaheer 10-1-49-1 (w-1), Agarkar 10-1-65-0, RP Singh 10-0-49-1 (w-1), Ganguly 4-0-21-0, Chawla 7-0-42-0, Tendulkar 4-0-29-0 (w-2), Yuvraj Singh 5-0-29-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 16/0, 10: 40/0, 15: 62/1, 20: 88/1, 25: 108/1, 30: 146/1, 35: 180/1, 40: 210/1, 45: 246/2, end of innings: 288/2 in 50 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 40/0, Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 22/1, Power Play 3: 16-20 overs: 26/0.

INDIA
Tendulkar c Bopara b Anderson 17 (33b, 1x4)
Ganguly (run out) 2 (6b)
Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 3 (14b)
Dravid c Prior b Mascarenhas 46 (72b, 2x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj c Cook b Anderson 0 (4b)
Dhoni c Prior b Flintoff 19 (60b, 1x4)
Kaarthick (not out) 44 (45b, 4x4)
Agarkar (run out) 11 (29b, 1x4)
Chawla (run out) 2 (9b)
Zaheer b Anderson 20 (28b, 1x4, 2x6)
RP Singh b Panesar 0 (4b)
Extras (LB-10, W-5, NB-5) 20
Total (all out, 50 overs) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Ganguly), 2-19 (Gambhir), 3-34 (Tendulkar), 4-34 (Yuvraj), 5-102 (Dhoni), 6-105 (Dravid), 7-129 (Agarkar), 8-145 (Chawla), 9-183 (Zaheer).
Bowling: Broad 8-1-27-0 (w-1), Anderson  10-2-23-4 (w-2), Flintoff 7-0-12-1 (nb-5), Mascarenhas 10-1-28-1 (w-1), Panesar 10-0-47-1, Collingwood 5-0-37-0 (w-1).
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 19/1, 10: 29/2, 15: 38/4, 20: 56/4, 25: 79/4, 30: 102/4, 35: 111/6, 40: 133/7, 45: 155/8, end of innings: 184 all out in 50 overs.
Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 29/2, Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 9/2, Power Play 3: 16-20 overs: 18/0.