Nottinghamshire duo Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann staged a telling fightback, much to the delight of their home crowd, to salvage a total of 221 on a difficult first day of the second npower Test for England.

The hosts had lost six wickets in the afternoon session at Trent Bridge to descend to 124-8, after being put in under heavy cloud cover by India.

But after Shantha Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar had wrought havoc on the top and middle order, England's Notts pair decided a counter-attack was required.

The two natural strokemakers, who faced just four balls together before tea, wrested back the initiative in an evening stand of 73 in only 11 overs yesterday.

And Broad felt England regained some momentum after his half-century gave the hosts a competitive first innings total.

The 25-year-old said although India dominated the opening day, the tail wagging, coupled with the quick wicket of Abhinav Mukund at the start of India's innings brought England back into the match.

"India certainly won three quarters of the day but we managed to grab a bit of momentum back towards the end and probably ended up a bit disappointed not to pick up more wickets," he said.

"Unfortunately we lost six pretty quick wickets but we are still in with a shout of winning. It is swinging consistently as it always does at Trent Bridge."

Broad also refused to lay any blame on the failure of England's batsman to score runs and highlighted this morning as a crucial session in the match.

He said: "It (my innings) was good fun, I think at tea Swanny and myself thought we were going to grab the momentum back a little bit and if it was in our area we were going to score."

Kumar, previously wicketless, had taken two wickets in three deliveries in mid-afternoon to end Andrew Strauss' 98-ball vigil and see off Eoin Morgan for a duck.

England lost Matt Prior cheaply too to lurch to 88-6, and then Sharma (3-66) repeated the Kumar dose with two more wickets in seven balls.

Strauss had helped his team make it to lunch for the loss of only two wickets, at a venue which is renowned for aiding swing and duly lived up to its reputation.

A bouncy surface also played its part in making batting an awkward proposition for all, and India ensured England's struggle continued by offering few obvious scoring opportunities – until Broad (64) and Swann altered the equation.

Swann (28) eventually fell to an unplayable ball which bounced alarmingly, especially given Kumar's gentle pace, from just short of a length for an easy catch at gully.

But Broad stayed put with James Anderson to flat-bat Kumar straight back over the bowler's head to complete his second consecutive Test 50 with his seventh four, from just 56 balls.

When Broad was last out, caught in the leg-side deep off Harbhajan Singh, England then took the field without Swann, who had gone to hospital for an x-ray on his left hand – the result of the brutish ball from Kumar which ended his innings.

The hosts had the perfect start as Anderson took the wicket of Mukund with the first ball of the innings, before India closed on 24-1 off 15 overs.

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