England made a solid 281-8 after being asked to bat first by India in the third one-day international at Edgbaston.

Ian Bell led the way for England with 79 from 89 deliveries, after Alastair Cook (40) and Matt Prior (34) had put on 76 for the first wicket.

Skipper Paul Collingwood chipped in with 44 from 53 balls faced, while late fireworks came from Chris Tremlett, who blasted an unbeaten 19 from nine deliveries.

Left-arm seamer RP Singh bagged 3-55 for the tourists, while off-spinner Ramesh Powar impressed in taking 2-45 from his ten overs.

England went into the game shorn of the services of both Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas, who were ruled out by knee and hand injuries respectively.

Owais Shah and Monty Panesar stepped in to fill the gaps, while India welcomed back Zaheer Khan, with Ajit Agarkar making way for his fellow paceman.