England captain Paul Collingwood hailed new-ball pair James Anderson and Stuart Broad after a 42-run victory over India at Edgbaston gave the hosts a 2-1 lead in the NatWest Series.

Anderson claimed three for 32 and Broad one for 34 as the pair first restricted India's much-vaunted top order and then returned to halt the run chase.

''They have put the Indian openers under a lot of pressure,'' said Collingwood. ''They are still learning and I'm sure they will keep improving.''

The skipper also praised the whole side for their efforts in keeping the runs down after England posted 281 for eight with major contributions coming from Ian Bell (79), himself (44) and openers Alastair Cook (40) and Matt Prior (34).

''It turned out to be a nice pitch to bat on and I thought the openers went out and gave us a solid start and a platform to run the ball around in the middle overs,'' he said.

''I thought the score was about par and I think the way we fielded and the overall team performance was exceptional. We saved a lot of runs in the field.''

England were without all-rounders Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas because of minor injuries but Collingwood was confident both would be able to return for the fourth game of the seven-match series at Old Trafford on Thursday.

He said: ''Freddie (Flintoff) has had a bit of stiffness behind his knee and hopefully he will be fit for the next game.

''Dimi got a knock on his thumb but hopefully he will be available for the next game also.''

Man of the match Bell also claimed two catches and the crucial run-out of Yuvraj Singh and revealed fielding was something the whole team had been working on to improve.

Bell said: ''We have been working on things in the field. making sure it is as sharp as possible,'' he said.

''It is something we target. Any team we play against we want to beat them in the field.

"If we are running well between the wickets and fielding well it can be worth 15 to 20 runs to us."