London - England came alive in the second half to secure a 5-1 victory over lowly Kazakhstan in their World Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday, cementing their place at the top of group six.

After a tepid first half, stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand got the ball rolling with the first on 51 minutes and an own goal, two goals from Wayne Rooney and a late strike by Jermain Defoe secured the three points at Wembley.

Fabio Capello's side had a few hairy moments when Kazakhstan pulled a goal back when Zhambyl Kukeyev scored after a woeful backpass by Ashley Cole to make it 
2-1.

But Rooney then struck twice and Defoe scored a breakaway goal to put a gloss on what had been a difficult evening for England up to half-time.

England sit top of group six with nine points out of nine.

Rooney said England had known it would not be that easy to break down Kazakhstan.

"First half we had a couple of chances, but we knew we had to be patient and not rush it," Rooney said. "We knew that chances would come and we had to take them.

"We know we can play better but the result was the main thing today to make sure we put the points on the board. Luckily we did that."

The home side went into the match on the back of a superb 4-1 win in Croatia but all the talk before the game had been about the midfield combination of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

Capello decided to play both together in the heart of England's midfield, with Gareth Barry as a holding player behind them.

That meant Wayne Rooney started on the left, with Theo Walcott on the right, while West Ham's Matthew Upson filled in at the back in the absence of injured captain John Terry.

Upson headed a difficult opportunity wide, while Lampard fired just over the bar, but generally England were poor in the first half and were frustrated by a disciplined performance from Kazakhstan.

A smattering of boos greeted the half-time whistle and Capello made a change at the break, bringing on Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips for Barry and reverting to a 4-4-2.

Wright-Phillips moved to the left and switched Rooney into the middle alongside Heskey and England immediately looked better, though Kazakhstan almost caught them cold when Tanat Nusserbayev lifted the ball over from close range.

The deadlock was finally broken on 50 minutes when Wright-Phillips forced a corner and Lampard's delivery found Ferdinand free at the back post and the Manchester United defender headed into the empty net.

England made it 2-0 on 63 minutes when a Lampard free-kick flicked off the head of a Kazakhstan defender under pressure from Rooney but the home crowd were stunned when Ashley Cole played a backpass without looking and Zhambyl Kukeyev fired the ball under David James.

But England restored their two-goal advantage on 76 minutes, with Rooney heading Wes Brown's cross into the corner.

David Beckham came off the bench with 12 minutes remaining and played a part in the fourth goal as his cross was not cleared and Rooney fired home from close range.

And Defoe, another substitute, broke clear in the dying minutes to fire in the fifth. (dpa)