England welcomed three new members into the hundred club after an aggressive display with bat and ball ensured a comprehensive victory over favourites India in the opening match of the NatWest Series.
Humbled during the recent World Cup campaign and beaten by West Indies during the three-match one-day series earlier this summer, England entered the start of a two-month concentrated campaign of one-day cricket lacking recent form or confidence.
But maiden one-day international centuries by Alastair Cook and Ian Bell were followed by seamer James Anderson claiming his hundredth one-day international wicket en route to career-best figures of four for 23 to ensure England cruised to an emphatic 104-run triumph at the Rose Bowl to launch the seven-match series.
It was a stunning display of aggressive cricket with bat and ball, which was capped by the successful return of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who claimed one for 12 from his seven overs in his first outing for England this summer.
The victory also represented a major vindication of England's selection policy after they had surprisingly kept faith with Bell and Cook, who were regarded as fighting for one place, and instead dropped Owais Shah despite him finishing as England's leading run-scorer against West Indies.
Put into bat after India captain Rahul Dravid gambled on the firepower of his star-studded batting line-up, it backfired badly on the tourists with England enjoying two centurions in an innings for the first time since Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood both hit hundreds against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge two years ago.
Struggling early on to take advantage of the power-plays - a factor which contributed to Matt Prior giving a leading edge to mid-on for 19 attempting to force the pace against Zaheer Khan - Cook timed his innings superbly in only his fifth outing at this level.
Less aggressive than Bell in a 178-run stand off 185 balls, Cook played the anchor role superbly as Dravid became increasingly frustrated at his attack's inability to claim a breakthrough in 31 overs of toil.
During that period Cook, whose previous highest score was just 41, expanded his repertoire of strokeplay to hit eight boundaries and help him score his maiden century.
Bell was more fluent from the start and ended a long wait to reach three figures at this level in his 48th appearance, a sequence which had sparked speculation about his suitability for the shorter format of the game.
There were no doubts on today's evidence with Bell hitting five fours and a six to bring up his half-century off 54 balls before reaching three figures at a run-a-ball to leave England on course to reach their first total over 300 batting first for a year.
Their stand was only broken when Cook played onto his stumps for 102 attempting a big drive off left-arm seamer RP Singh with eight overs remaining but on 221 for two, England should have passed the 300 barrier.
Despite an aggressive 67-run stand off only 50 balls between Kevin Pietersen and Bell, who finished unbeaten on 126 off 118 balls, England failed to break that landmark after India intelligently dried up the run flow in the final overs with Zaheer and Ajit Agarkar using yorkers and slower balls.
It looked like it could have been a costly error with India's batting line-up more than capable of matching England's efforts, only for their reply to be undermined with Monty Panesar superbly running out Sourav Ganguly in the third over after he turned blind for a second run.
Panesar's superb diving stop and throw set the tone for England's performance in the field, which never allowed India to gain sufficient momentum during the crucial early stages of power-plays.
Lancashire seamer Anderson followed up the early breakthrough with three wickets in a four-over spell with the new ball, inducing left-hander Gautam Gambhir into edging behind to earn his 100th one-day international victim in his 70th appearance.
Having reached one milestone, Anderson set off quickly in search of another with two more wickets in a five-ball spell which all but settled the match as a contest.
Sachin Tendulkar had battled hard for 33 balls for his 17 when, conscious of the rising run-rate, he attempted to flick Anderson through mid-wicket but only found Ravi Bopara's safe hands.
Four balls later Anderson tempted new batsman Yuvraj Singh into edging low to Cook in the gully to leave India reeling on 34 for four and on course for a humiliating defeat.
They avoided that prospect thanks to Dravid and Mahendra Dhoni forging a determined 68-run stand, but by the time they were parted the run-rate was beyond even India's considerable talents.
Dhoni fell gloving a fast and short delivery from Flintoff behind after an uncharacteristic 19 from 60 balls and when Dravid fell four short of his half-century edging Dimitri Mascarenhas behind their cause was lost.
England's only cause for complaint was their struggle to finish off India and after reducing them to seven down with 12 overs remaining, they were not dismissed until the final ball of the innings for 184.
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