England 5 - 1 Kazakhstan
Attendance: 89,107
Five second half goals ensured Fabio Capello's men maintained their 100 per cent start to the World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable 5-1 dismissal of Kazakhstan at Wembley Stadium.
Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney scored a brace to cap an impressive individual performance as The Three Lions secured a valuable three points on the road to South Africa 2010.
It was Rooney's United team-mate - and Captain for the day - Rio Ferdinand, that gave England a deserved 52nd minute lead, heading home a Frank Lampard corner at the far post.
This lead was doubled 12 minutes later, when another Lampard dead ballcaused concern in the Kazakhi box. Under pressure from Rooney, the unfortunate Alexandr Kuchma inadvertantly guided the ball past his 'keeper, Alexandr Mokin and England began to enjoy some reward that their continued pressure merited.
Sabrykhan Kukeyev took advantage of a stray pass by Ashley Cole to give Kazakhstan hope with just over 20 minutes.
Despite the final result, the visitors did cause England a few problems, with Tanat Nusserbayev threatening to be England's nemesis on three separate occasions. Rooney's brace effectively settled the contest and a fifth goal in the final minute from Jermaine Defoe sealed the victory.
David Beckham replaced Walcott to give the former skippe his 106th cap, allowing the midfielder to draw level with Sir Bobby Charlton in third spot on England's all time list of appearances. Fabio Capello will be pleased with the final score line, the possession his team enjoyed and the pressure they continually forced upon Kazakhstan, despite being unable to break the deadlock sooner.
England now head into Wednesday's qualifier against Belarus on top of Group Six with nine points from nine.