Cricket: Mistakes hamper England's progress.

Byline: By Myles Hodgson

COACH Peter Moores is backing England to bounce back from the opening-day errors and battle their way back into contention in the crucial final Test.

Needing victory to preserve their unbeaten home Test series record stretching back to 2001, England struggled on the opening day with India taking advantage of good batting conditions to reach a commanding 316 for four.

England were not helped in their efforts by missing two key catches - including Sachin Tendulkar on 20 who went on to finish unbeaten on 48 - but Moores believes they are capable of bouncing back from their disappointing opening day.

"There are four days to go in the game, we have a new ball and we need to get a couple of wickets with it and put them under pressure," stressed Moores.

"There is a lot of cricket to be played, we will have to bowl well and field well and if we do and bat well - as we have seen in the past in all games of cricket, things can turn around pretty quickly."

England can console themselves with the fact that they were in a similar position against South Africa at the Oval in 2003, who reached 362 for four on the opening day only for England to bounce back and claim victory to level the series.

Moores is hoping England can do the same again and insisted they are not far away from reclaiming the momentum from India should they get early wickets when play resumes today.

"It was a tough day at the office for the lads," he conceded. "It was a good toss to win, a good pitch and India played well, but we came back after a very tough first session.

"The target was to try to get three wickets in the first session, we didn't get that but the lads were ready for some hard work.

"We didn't expect to be able to bowl a side out in a day, it was just about keeping the runs down."

India, chasing their first series victory on English soil since 1986, were understandably elated by their opening day despite suffering a major setback with Sourav Ganguly being given lbw by umpire Ian Howell to Paul Collingwood despite a massive inside edge just 10 overs before the close.

CAPTION(S):

MATT FINISH... England's Ryan Sidebottom (second from left) celebrates after taking the wicket of India's Dinesh Karthik thanks to a catch by wicketkeeper Matthew Prior.