England v Pakistan: Pakistan finished off with ease as Anderson swings into action

England's victory, by 354 runs, was earned most perhaps by Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood's double-century first-innings stand as both attacks cashed in under near unshifting cloud cover at a venue increasingly made for swing and seam bowlers.

Matt Prior also dug in to salvage the second innings as England batsmen continue their rediscovery of the century knack.

But it was Anderson who took the man-of-the-match honours with career-best figures of 11-71, at a ground which also witnessed his previous Test best of 9-98 against New Zealand two years ago.

Anderson was endorsing captain Andrew Strauss's pre and post-match conviction that there is no better in the world "when the ball is swinging".

The man himself spoke with justifiable pride at taking 10 in the match.

"This is fantastic – a great feeling," he said.

"I've only done it once before in first-class cricket."

Anderson has endured a tough season at times – left out of England's ICC World Twenty20-winning team, faring well in two Tests against Bangladesh but then struggling for wickets in the mid-summer one-day internationals.

"It's not been my greatest summer so far," he admitted.

"But I always felt I was bowling well through the one-day series, even though my figures might have shown otherwise.

"I wasn't coming into this game low on confidence. I managed to get rhythm early in the game, got the rub of the green, got the nicks – and catches in the slips."

England, in fact, outcaught their opponents spectacularly – missing almost nothing, while Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in particular had a near-nightmare match with gloves as well as bat.

Asked if he can remember bowling better, Anderson said: "It's up there.

"I thought I bowled with very good patience in both innings. I didn't get greedy, or try to bowl the magic ball too much."

Strauss has now led England to three successive Test wins, following their two before that under Alastair Cook in Bangladesh, as they gather momentum for the Ashes this coming winter.

The latest performance naturally pleased the captain, who will nonetheless not be getting carried away – because he knows the victory was harder won than the eventual margin suggests.

"We had to work very hard at stages of the game," he said.

"The encouraging thing for me was that we got through those tricky situations and came out the other side really well.

"That's a lot to pat ourselves on the back about. But it's important to remind ourselves that our overriding aim is consistency – and you don't do that in one game. We have won five Test matches in a row but certainly that Bangladesh series, you would expect us to win.

"South Africa (last winter) showed us that against the best teams in their conditions we've got a lot of work to do."

The signs for lasting success are encouraging, however.

"Test matches like this give me a lot of heart, because of guys getting us out of trouble when we need them," added the captain.

"If you want to be a top-quality Test team you are going to get in trouble at times, and you need people to come out and get you out of trouble.

"It's just about consistency now.

"We've always been able to pull off a really good Test match victory. Now we need to string them together."

Strauss's opposite number Salman Butt knows he has much work to do, meanwhile, having followed victory over Australia last week at Headingley in his first match in charge with this landslide defeat in his second.

Calls for Akmal to be relieved of his duties will gather pace ahead of the tourists' arrival in Birmingham wheer the second Test begins on Thursday.

The Pakistan selectors reacted to the defeat last night by recalling veteran batsman Mohammad Yousuf just four months after he announced his retirement, although Butt was earlier quick to retain confidence in the players already at his disposal.

"There is not much difference between the two sides in terms of batting," he insists. "If we had held our chances they could have been out below 200. I fully trust my team will be back."

Pakistan, already 15-3 overnight, began this morning needing a world-record 435 to win.

Expectations were low, but not so low as to be bowled out for 80 and lose seven wickets to Anderson (6-17) and Steve Finn in under a session.

"It was disappointing. We were certainly expecting better things of ourselves - and we need to improve," said Butt.

"But this is the time when you back your players. The faith I have in them, I know they can make a comeback.

"To bring somebody in or to send somebody back is not in my hands."

Scoreboard

First Test

England v Pakistan

Trent Bridge: England won by 354 runs.

Overnight: England 354 and 262-9 dec, Pakistan 182 and 15-3.

England First Innings

A J Strauss c Kamran Akmal b Aamer 45

A N Cook c Imran Farhat b Aamer 8

I J L Trott lbw b Aamer 38

K P Pietersen b Mohammad Asif 9

P D Collingwood lbw b Mohammad Asif 82

E J G Morgan lbw b Mohammad Asif 130

M J Prior run out 6

G P Swann lbw b Mohammad Asif 2

S C J Broad b Umar Gul 3

J M Anderson lbw b Mohammad Asif 0

S T Finn not out 0

Extras b5 lb14 w5 nb7 31

Total (104.1 overs) 354

Fall: 1-42 2-93 3-116 4-118 5-337 6-344 7-351 8-354 9-354

Bowling: Aamer 24 7 41 3; Mohammad Asif 27 9 77 5; Umar Gul 18.1 5 61 1; Danish Kaneria 21 0 100 0; Shoaib Malik 11 2 39 0; Azhar Ali 1 0 9 0; Amin 1 0 3 0; Imran Farhat 1 0 5 0.

Pakistan First Innings

Imran Farhat b Anderson 19

Salman Butt c Prior b Anderson 1

Azhar Ali c Prior b Anderson 14

Amin c Swann b Finn 2

Akmal c Swann b Finn 4

Shoaib Malik c Strauss b Anderson 38

Kamran Akmal c Collingwood b Finn 0

Aamer c Swann b Anderson 25

Umar Gul not out 65

Danish Kaneria b Broad 7

Mohammad Asif run out 0

Extras b5 lb2 7

Total (54 overs) 182

Fall: 1-5 2-32 3-35 4-41 5-45 6-47 7-105 8-108 9-147

Bowling: Anderson 22 7 54 5; Broad 17 4 59 1; Finn 13 5 50 3; Swann 2 1 12 0.

England Second Innings

A J Strauss c Kamran Akmal b Aamer 0

AN Cook c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Asif 12

I J L Trott b Umar Gul 26

K P Pietersen c Kamran Akmal b Umar Gul 22

P D Collingwood lbw b Umar Gul 1

E J G Morgan run out 17

M J Prior not out 102

G P Swann lbw b Danish Kaneria 28

S C J Broad c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Malik 24

JM Anderson c Kamran Akmal b Shoaib Malik 2

S T Finn not out 9

Extras b4 lb11 w1 nb3 19

Total 9 wkts dec (75.3 overs) 262

Fall: 1-2 2-18 3-65 4-66 5-72 6-98 7-147 8-203 9-213

Bowling: Aamer 16 3 35 1; Mohammad Asif 17 1 56 1; Umar Gul 15 2 41 3; Amin 5 1 13 0; Danish Kaneria 12 0 71 1; Shoaib Malik 10.3 0 31 2.

Pakistan Second Innings

Imran Farhat c Strauss b Anderson 15

Salman Butt c Collingwood b Broad 8

Azhar Ali lbw b Broad 0

Amin lbw b Anderson 1

Aamer c Pietersen b Finn 4

Akmal lbw b Anderson 4

Shoaib Malik c Collingwood b Anderson 9

Kamran Akmal lbw b Finn 0

Umar Gul c Collingwood b Anderson 9

Danish Kaneria not out 16

Mohammad Asif c Swann b Anderson 0

Extras b4 lb8 w1 nb1 14

Total (29 overs) 80

Fall: 1-10 2-10 3-11 4-31 5-37 6-41 7-41 8-50 9-65.

Bowling: Anderson 15 8 17 6; Broad 8 2 23 2; Finn 6 3 28 2.

Umpires: E A R de Silva and A L Hill.