England gain early stranglehold on third Test as bowlers deliver

Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan shared eight wickets as England moved into a dominant position on day one of the third npower Test at Edgbaston.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's counter-attacking 77 threatened to redress the balance, after India had collapsed to 111 for seven, but the tourists' 224 all out appeared inadequate by the time Andrew Strauss (52 not out) and Alastair Cook had replied at stumps with 84 without loss. Dhoni, previously out of form with only 49 runs from four attempts in a series India trail 2-0, engineered a run-a-ball stand of 84 with Praveen Kumar for India's eighth wicket. Even so Broad (four for 53) and Bresnan (four for 62), both so pivotal in England's victory at Trent Bridge last week, cashed in on favourable conditions.

Broad gave the hosts a perfect start by dismissing Virender Sehwag for a first-ball duck this morning, and soon returned to also take the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.

Bresnan saw off Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid as India faltered with the loss of three wickets for 16 runs in the half-hour before lunch - and he then nipped out VVS Laxman too, the second of three more batsmen to fall for the addition of only 19 in early afternoon.

Sehwag , was shunted straight into this match. But he tried to leave his and Broad's first delivery and was eventually given out via a DRS review when Hotspot indicated the ball had brushed his top glove.

England were then shut out by a second-wicket stand of 51 between Dravid and Gambhir.

But Gambhir inside-edged an attempted off-drive at Bresnan on to his leg-stump, and the Yorkshireman capped a fine morning's work with a wonderful delivery which appeared to be angling in but held its line to knock back the often immovable Dravid's off-stump. In between times, Broad snared the wicket of Tendulkar, with the master batsman pushing defensively to Anderson at third slip.

When Anderson got in on the act after lunch, bowling Suresh Raina with an inswinger, it seemed India's collapse would be terminal. Bresnan took another apparently key wicket when Laxman's pick-up pull carried all the way to fine-leg, before Amit Mishra edged some Broad swing behind. But Dhoni had a point to prove, and soon set about the England seamers. He struck Anderson back over his head for six and clubbed Bresnan into the Eric Hollies stand on his way to a 62-ball 50.

England seemed rattled as Kumar played some adventurous shots too. But Bresnan stuck to his guns, and it paid off when England's second successful DRS procedure of the day saw Kumar go caught behind. It took only six overs after tea to conclude the India innings, Dhoni finally flailing an edge to slip where Strauss held a good catch - and then Cook somehow clinging on to a full-blooded force off the back foot at silly-point to account for Ishant Sharma.

Cook and Strauss made a very watchful start to the home reply, taking 23 balls before the former registered his team's first run. Strauss came to life with a clutch of fours off Shantha Sreesanth, on his way to a 76-ball 50.

• England wore black armbands yesterday, following the recent death of Ian Bell's coach and former Warwickshire batsman Neal Abberley.