LONDON, England (AP) — England swept to an eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the first Test at Lord’s yesterday after a sparkling performance from pace bowler Steven Finn.

The 21-year-old Finn finished with 5-87 in the second innings and nine wickets for the match before England’s batsmen, led by captain Andrew Strauss, finished off the tourists on the fifth day.

The second and final Test of the series begins at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Friday.

Set a victory target of 160 after Bangladesh were dismissed for 382 in their second innings at the end of the morning session, the home side comfortably made it to 163-2, with Strauss hitting 82.

The margin of victory was comfortable but Strauss acknowledged Bangladesh’s improvement in Test cricket.

“I definitely think they’re getting closer,” he said. “More of their batsmen have the belief that they can go out and get decent scores, but it’s the same with most sides — if you keep pressing, eventually you’ll see a collapse,” he said.

Bangladesh began the day on 328-5 — a lead of 105 — but Finn and Tim Bresnan (3-93) combined to dismiss the tail. Junaid Siddique, who batted for more than four hours, impressed for Bangladesh with 74. Finn had match figures of 9-187.

England lost Alastair Cook (23) and Strauss during the run chase, but Jonathan Trott (36 not out) and Kevin Pietersen (10 not out) saw the team home.

Given the hostility generated by James Anderson during the last five overs on Sunday, it was perhaps surprising to see England hand the new ball to Finn and Bresnan as they looked to wrap up Bangladesh’s second innings.

After just two overs, Bresnan was replaced by Anderson at the Nursery end but it took 40 minutes for England to make a breakthrough.

Finn, who stands at 6 feet, 7 inches, struggled to keep his footing at the Pavilion end, where he repeatedly fell over.

It didn’t hold him back for too long. With the first ball of the 10th over, Shakib Al Hasan (16) tried to cut a ball from the Middlesex paceman and was caught by Eoin Morgan at point.

In his next over, Finn bowled a slower ball to Siddique, who was easily caught in the covers by Bresnan.

Finn claimed his third wicket in 15 balls an over later, when Mushfiqur Rahim (0) was caught behind by Matt Prior.

Mahmudullah was on 14 when he was dropped at third slip by Bresnan after edging a delivery from Anderson.

Bresnan atoned by claiming the final two wickets of the innings. He had Rubel Hossain (4) caught at second slip by Strauss and ended the morning session with a chest-high delivery that Mahmudullah (19) nudged to Prior.

England made a quick start to the run chase, with Strauss hitting four fours from his first nine balls.

Strauss had a narrow escape on 28 when he edged a Mahmudullah delivery through Siddique’s legs, but England’s progress was temporarily slowed when Cook was out lbw for 23 to the same bowler, bringing Trott to the crease.

Strauss reached his 50 off 50 balls in the 20th over but was caught by Mushfiqur Rahim off Shakib three overs before tea was due to be taken.

Successive boundaries by Pietersen took England to the brink of victory and Trott sealed it with a four to square leg.

Shakib felt his side had batted well, but said the bowlers needed to improve.

“We need to keep bowling in the right areas, that was our main problem,” he said. “Our batsmen did well, especially the top four, but we need to contribute in the middle order. They’ve been playing well recently, so we need them to contribute in Manchester.”

Scoreboard

England 1st innings 505 (J Trott 226, A Strauss 83; S Hossain 5-98)

Bangladesh 1st innings 282 (J Siddique 58, T Iqbal 55; J Anderson 4-78, S Finn 4-100)

Bangladesh 2nd Innings (overnight: 328-5)

T Iqbal c Trott b Finn 103

I Kayes c Bell b Finn 75

J Siddique c Bresnan b Finn 74

J Islam c and b Trott 46

M Ashraful c Prior b Anderson 21

S Hossain b Bresnan 0

S Al Hasan c Morgan b Finn 16

M Rahim c Prior b Finn 0

Mahmudullah c Prior b Bresnan 19

R Hossain c Strauss b Bresnan 4

R Islam not out 0

Extras (b7, lb14, w2, nb1) 24

Total (all out, 110.2 overs, 479 mins) 382

Fall of wickets: 1-185 (Tamim), 2-189 (Kayes), 3-289 (Jahurul), 4-321 (Ashraful), 5-322 (Shahadat), 6-347 (Shakib), 7-354 (Siddique), 8-361 (Mushfiqur), 9-381 (Rubel), 10-382 (Mahmudullah)

Bowling: Anderson 29-8-84-1 (1w); Bresnan 26.2-9-93-3 (1w); Finn 24-6-87-5 (1nb); Swann 27-5-81-0; Trott 4-0-16-1

England 2nd Innings

A Strauss c Mushfiqur b Shakib 82

A Cook lbw b Mahmudullah 23

J Trott not out 36

K Pietersen not out 10

Extras (lb5, w1, nb6) 12

Total (2 wkts, 35.1 overs, 221 mins) 163

Did not bat: I Bell, E Morgan, M Prior, T Bresnan, G Swann, J Anderson, S Finn

Fall of wickets: 1-67 (Cook), 2-147 (Strauss)

Bowling: Shahadat 2-0-19-0 (4nb, 1w); Robiul 1-0-12-0 (1nb); Shakib 16-1-48-1; Rubel 1-0-8-0 (1nb); Mahmudullah 15.1-71-1

Toss: Bangladesh

Man-of-the-Match: Steven Finn (ENG)