England in driver's seat after day three

LONDON: Rahul Dravid's 33rd hundred was not enough for India as England took command of the first Test ending day three at five for no loss in the second innings to take a 193-run lead after dismissing India for 286 on Saturday.

Openers Andrew Strauss (3) and Alastair Cook (0) negotiated the tricky five overs without any incidents in the absence of spearhead Zaheer Khan who is nursing a hamstring strain.

Rahul Dravid's unbeaten 103, his first century at Lord's, was the only saving grace for the Indians and it allowed them to avoid the follow-on.

Dravid, who became Test cricket's second-highest run-getter during his innings going past Ricky Ponting, did not receive enough support despite Abhinav Mukund (49), Sachin Tendulkar (34) and skipper MS Dhoni (28) getting starts.

Stuart Broad was the most impressive of England bowlers picking up four wickets while Chris Tremlett scalped three, James Anderson claimed the last two and Graeme Swann was unlucky to bag just one.

India started the day with all the wickets in hand but soon lost Gautam Gambhir (15) to a pitched-up Broad delivery that swung in late and crashed into the stumps.

Mukund missed out on his second Test half-century as he dragged a wide Broad delivery on to his stumps.

Dravid and Tendulkar dominated the bowling at the start of the second session but England struck back with venom, leaving India on 193 for 5 at tea.

Tendulkar edged a Broad delivery straight to Graeme Swann and VVS Laxman (10), who was dropped on 0 by Andrew Strauss at first slip, fell a little later, flicking a Tremlett delivery straight to Jonathan Trott at deep backward square leg.

Suresh Raina (0) lasted only a few deliveries as Swann caught him plumb in front. But a 57-run partnership between Dhoni and Dravid gave India hope before the skipper's put England in total command of the match.

Harbhajan Singh also departed for a duck, becoming Tremlett's third victim before Praveen Kumar used the long handle, scoring 17 off 13 balls, to ensure India saved the follow-on and Dravid reached his ton soon after.

Anderson picked up his first wicket cleaning up Zaheer Khan for naught and then had Ishant Sharma (0) edge one to wicketkeeper Matt Prior to end the Indian innings