Matt Prior chiselled out a half-century here today to keep England in the contest and justify - on batting grounds, at least - his recall to the Test team.

While Graeme Swann made a dramatic impact with his two rapid wickets, Prior's contribution should not be forgotten.

Dropped after the tour of Sri Lanka 12 months ago, the Sussex man did little to inspire confidence during the one-day series against India, making only 59 runs in five innings and looking shaky behind the stumps by the fourth and fifth games.

But, preferred to Tim Ambrose as keeper-batsman when Kevin Pietersen named his side for this First Test, Prior (right) hit an unbeaten 53 today which enabled England to scramble to 316 before they were all out.

That was well short of the total they had in mind when Pietersen won the toss yesterday. It just about gave their bowlers a chance, however, and Jimmy Anderson gave them an early boost by dismissing Virender Sehwag with only 16 runs on the board. Having batted defiantly with Prior, Anderson cramped Sehwag for space with a near 90mph delivery and was rewarded when the opener deflected a wishy-washy attempted cut into his stumps.

Then up stepped Test debutant Swann to put England on top and make his mark with two wickets in his first over in Test cricket.

With only his third ball, the Nottinghamshire man trapped Gautam Gambhir lbw after the Indian failed to offer a shot.

Swann repeated the feat three balls later with Rahul Dravid falling victim to another lbw claim having scored just three.

It was a sweet moment for Swann, who was called into the Test squad in 1999 by Duncan Fletcher for the Test against New Zealand but never played. Swann's efforts meant India were reduced to 37 for three at tea and the only sour point for the tourists' bowlers was an injury scare for Steve Harmison, who left the field because of a right leg problem after bowling only four overs.

England had added 87 runs to their first day total, only three more boundaries were scored and Prior's 102-ball innings included just one four.

Andrew Strauss's first night wish for a total of 350 or 400 seemed unlikely to be realised before start of play today. And it was probably downgraded to 300, maximum, once Andrew Flintoff perished to the 17th delivery of the second morning without a run added to 229 for five. India had no intention of giving Flintoff a hard, new ball to biff to the boundary. Instead, they stuck with the old one and, after a couple of overs of pace, introduced leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

An inside edge saved England's all-rounder from falling lbw. But another snick, into his pad, lobbed low towards short leg where Gambhir held a relatively comfortable catch.

If the visitors had to lose an early wicket it really needed to be that of Anderson. In fact, it was the nightwatchman who kept India waiting most of the morning while helping Prior to add 42 badly wanted runs.

Although England were in a decidedly dodgy position and others higher up the order had failed, there was real pressure on Prior. Restored to the Test team a year after being dropped, he has just had a poor one-day series against India - missing out as an opener and relegated to No 9 by the fourth match - and looked short of confidence on both sides of the stumps by the time that trip was abandoned.

Even so, Pietersen has stuck by him for this contest, and he did not let him down at the tail end of the first innings. Mainly happy to nudge and nurdle ones and two, Prior's footwork was decisive. And when Harbhajan Singh gave him the opportunity, he slog-swept a four.

Even so, England were making only snail's pace progress. But it was better than nothing, of course, and hopes were starting to rise - especially once Anderson rocked back to drive Harbhajan through the covers. Too good to be true? Afraid so. When Anderson swept again, he picked out Yuvraj Singh at deep mid-wicket to bring the curtain down on a near two-hour innings. Then, still before lunch, debut-maker Graeme Swann could only glove Harbhajan's leaping, fizzing delivery to slip where Dravid held on easily enough.

Now it really was a case of trying to eke out any run going, but the afternoon session was still in its infancy when Prior lost another partner.

Left-arm spinner Yuvraj had Harmison groping forward and looked less than convinced he had found an outside edge. The batsman knew, however, and caused another minor surprise by turning on his heel and walking off before umpire Billy Bowden made a decision.

With Monty Panesar arriving in the middle, it was pretty much now or never for Prior if he wanted a half-century. In fairness, though, England's No 11 batted sensibly for 24 minutes and kept out 25 deliveries before being pinned lbw by Ishant Sharma.

But by then Prior had reached 50 and done his best to try to keep England in this game.