All-rounder Tim Bresnan led the way for England [Images] Lions with a sparkling century as they finished the opening day of the three-day tour match on a commanding 379 for 8 against India at Chelmsford on Friday.

• Images from day one

Yorkshire's Bresnan was unbeaten on 116 off 156 deliveries, with 15 boundaries and a six to help the hosts rally after being reduced to 185 for 6 at one stage. His 129-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Stuart Broad, who made 50, took the stuffing out of the Indian attack.

Bresnan, 22, continued in the same vein as his fellow teammate Joe Denly had done earlier in the day.

Kent youngster Denly thrilled the home fans with an attacking innings of 83 from 90 deliveries, with 16 boundaries.

Electing to bat first, England Lions lost an early wicket in the form of captain Andrew Strauss [Images] who was bowled by Zaheer Khan [Images] for 1 in the fifth over of the innings.

However, 21-year-old Denly seemed in no mood to relent as he started off with a couple of sweetly-struck straight boundaries off Zaheer.

Owais Shah looked good during his short stay at the crease, before a rash hook shot saw him being dismissed for 11 to S Sreesanth [Images] in the 12th over.

Denly, meanwhile, raced to his half-century off just 49 balls, including five fours in a single over off Zaheer.

Indian bowlers' efforts on the opening day here deserve special praise, since the last match played on this ground saw Essex and Nottinghamshire score in excess of 700 runs each in two innings.

Sachin Tendulkar [Images] led the Indian team as regular captain Rahul Dravid [Images] missed the game due to a calf injury.

Denly's dismissal to Ramesh Powar in the 30th over, followed by a determined spell in the afternoon session by Zaheer helped India take the upperhand.

He first got the wicket of Jonathan Trott for 46 caught in the slips by Sourav Ganguly [Images] and followed it up with the wicket of Tim Ambrose for 4.

Powar then bagged his second wicket, when he foxed Adil Rashid to have him caught and bowled for 0 to reduce the hosts to 185 for 6.

Ravi Bopara, back after an injury lay-off, settled nicely and looked determined to play a big knock, before he lost his wicket in the final over before tea.

Tendulkar brought himself on and to his surprise Bopara obliged him with an easy chance to Dinesh Karthik at short leg.

Bopara, who also hails from Essex and walked out to a huge cheer from the crowd, made 29 from 65 deliveries.

Bresnan followed in Denly's footsteps as he looked to attack the bowling at every opportunity. The Bresnan-Broad partnership exposed India's weakness in bowling, something they need to give a serious thought before the start of the first Test at Lord's next week.

Even though they bagged a few wickets in the middle, they looked totally clueless once Bresnan and Broad settled in and tried to play a few shots.

Once under pressure, the bowlers lacked the vision to bail the team out of a difficult situation.

Tendulkar shuffled his bowlers around quite a bit, but in the end even that proved quite ineffective as the England Lions walked away with the honours on day one.

Come day two and India would be looking to scalp the remaining three wickets as early as possible. Moral boost is what India is looking for, but for the moment they are on the receiving end.

Scorecard:

England Lions - 1st Innings

A Strauss b Zaheer 1
J Denly st Dhoni b Powar 83
O Shah c Zaheer b Sreesanth 11
J Trott c Ganguly b Zaheer 46
R Bopara c Karthik b Tendulkar 29
T Ambrose c Dhoni b Zaheer 4
ARashid c and b Powar 0
T Bresnan not out 116
S Broad c Yuvraj b Sreesanth 50
C Tremlett not out  8

Extras: 31 (21 nb, 8 b, 2 lb)
Total (379 for 8 wickets in 90 overs)

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

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 19-5-99-3, S Sreesanth 17-0-62-2, S Ganguly 6-2-16-0, I Sharma 12-1-61-0, R Powar 25-1-96-2, S Tendulkar 9-0-24-1, Yuvraj Singh [Images] 2-0-11-0.

Teams:

India: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman [Images], Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images](w/k), Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Ramesh Powar.

England Lions: Andrew Strauss (captain), Joe Denly, Owais Shah, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Tim Ambrose (w/k), Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett, Graham Onions.