One that got away - England denied win as Bucknor turns down Monty 'lbw'

In the mid-afternoon gloom at Lord's, Michael Vaughan's men were circling for the kill, having reduced the tourists to 277 for nine.

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When a delivery from Monty Panesar to last man Sri Sreesanth pitched on middle stump and struck the batsman's front pad low down, it appeared the game was up.

But West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor, who had given a number of more marginal decisions in the bowlers' favour, shook his head.

Replays showed the ball would have hit the top of middle and off but moments later the Indian batsmen Sreesanth and Mahendra Singh Dhoni accepted the offer of bad light and persistent rain ruined any chance of a resumption.

India captain Rahul Dravid admitted his team had "got out of jail" but Vaughan took the sting out of the controversial finale by refusing to blame Bucknor.

"You get these decisions," said the England skipper. "We got a couple of lbws that might have been missing so we don't have any complaints."

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Vaughan also praised Bucknor and his Australian colleague Simon Taufel over their handling of the deteriorating light.

He said: "The umpires were very good at communicating with us. When we took the new ball the light was going and they said they would let us know if it was getting too bad for the seamers to bowl, so we could put the spinners on.

"It was dark and starting to rain, so I have no problem with the decision to go off. I'm just disappointed we didn't get the last wicket."

India resumed on 137 for three, needing another 243 runs for an unlikely victory, before England captured two wickets in the first half-hour to take charge.

But an uncharacteristically measured innings of 76 not out from wicketkeeper Dhoni ultimately kept the hosts at bay.

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In the circumstances, Vaughan was delighted with the efforts of his team, reserving special praise for his rookie attack.

"Our young bowlers bowled really well, putting India's experienced batting line-up under pressure," he said.

"Chris Tremlett did so well to bowl like he did on debut. James Anderson showed great skill, control and pace and Ryan Sidebottom continued where he left off against the West Indies.

"We all know Monty Panesar is a good bowler, so we can be proud of the four of them."

Dravid said: "We got out of jail. It was a good effort but we were saved by the weather here. England had us on the run right through this game but we fought hard to stay in touch."

England have retained the same XI for the second Test at Trent Bridge, starting on Friday, after Matthew Hoggard was given more time to recover from his back injury.

Stuart Broad has been included in a 12-man squad but Vaughan admitted that it was hard to envisage any changes "at this stage".