England Lions' lower-order batsmen dashed India's ambitions to wrest the initiative with a determined show on the opening day of their three-day game at the Ford County Ground here on Friday.

Tim Bresnan, who scored a well-deserved second first class hundred (116 n.o.), and Stuart Broad shared a 129-run partnership for the eighth-wicket that facilitated the home side's progress from 225 for seven to 379 for eight at close after the Lions had opted to bat first.

The Indian bowlers did well to survive the Joe Denly onslaught to rip through the top and midldle-order in the post-lunch session. But for the umpteenth time, they lost the plot against the lower-order batsmen, often running out of ideas as to where to bowl against less accomplished batsmen.

But it's not to take the credit away from the Bresnan-Broad duo, which batted with a lot of assurance. They were not fazed either by pace or spin while facing the Indian attack with a great deal of comfort. Bresnan, the 22-year-old right-hander, was impressive in particular and handsome strokes to all parts of the ground characterised his batting on the day.

Broad did not have that many strokes or elegance, but gave unflinching support to Bresnan much to the chagrin of the Indian bowlers.

Dominant Denly
Earlier, Denly dominated the Indian bowling for nearly two sessions before Zaheer Khan brought the visitors' back into the match with an inspired spell in the post-lunch session in which he grabbed two wickets. The Mumbai left-arm paceman first jettisoned Jonathan Trott, forcing the batsman to edge one to Sourav Ganguly at first slip. He then showed exit signal to wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Ambrose, who guided the ball to the hands of his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

It was a classic display of fast bowling from Zaheer, after a patchy show in the morning, as he combined pace and accuracy with lethal effect to trouble all the batsmen. His third spell — 7 -3-10-2 — was a special effort considering the flat nature of the pitch.

Ramesh Powar also played an important part in curbing the Lions. Powar dismissed Denly and Adil Rashid and the Lions suddenly found themselves in trouble at 185 for six, a far cry from the comfortable 174 for three they had been a brief while ago. Powar lured Denly out of the crease with a well-tossed up delivery and Dhoni completed the the job with ease to curb the Lions' charge in the post-lunch session.

But the morning session hinted at a day of leatherhunt for the Indian fieldsmen. The only bright spot for them was the early dismissal of Andrew Strauss, the left-handed opener's expansive drive did not connect with the red cherry as it crashed into the woodwork.

However, Denly and Trott eased the worries in the Lions' camp with a solid 80-run partnership for the third-wicket. But Denly was the dominant figure in the alliance as the Kent batsman played with supreme confidence. When the Indian bowlers pitched it full, he drove with elan and when the bowlers banged in short, he pulled powerfully.

Zaheer bore the brunt of his aggression. Denly struck him for four boundaries in an over as the Lions crossed fifty in just eight overs.

Skipper Sachin Tendulkar brought in Ishant Sharma within the first 15 overs, but the Delhi pacer did not fetch the intended results.

SCORE BOARD

ENGLAND LIONS (I Innings): Andrew Strauss b Zaheer 1 (18m, 17b), Joe Denly st Dhoni b Powar 83 (135m, 90b, 16x4), Owais Shah c Zaheer b Sreesanth 11 (33m, 22b, 2x4), Jonathan Trott c Ganguly b Zaheer 46 (120m, 92b, 5x4), Ravi Bopara c Kaarthick b Tendulkar 29 (52m, 65b, 4x4), Tim Ambrose c Dhoni b Zaheer 4 (15m, 12b), Adil Rashid c&b Powar 0 (4m, 4b), Tim Bresnan (batting) 116 (199m, 156b, 15x4, 1x6), Stuart Broad c Yuvraj b Sreesanth 50 (106m, 91b, 6x4), Chris Tremlett (batting) 8 (28m, 12b, 1x4). Extras (B-8, LB-2, NB-21) 31. Total (for 8 wkts, 90 overs) 379.

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Strauss), 2-62 (Shah), 3-142 (Denly), 4-174 (Trott), 5-184 (Ambrose), 6-185 (Rashid), 7-225 (Bopara), 8-354 (Broad).

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 19-5-99-3 (nb-5), S Sreesanth 17-0-62-2 (nb-1), Ganguly 6-2-16-0, Ishant Sharma 12-1-61-1 (nb-15), Ramesh Powar 25-1-96-2, Sachin Tendulkar 9-0-24-1, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-11-0.