England, seems to me, are going through what sides sometimes do as they are developing into a top side but aren't quite there yet - namely, they have real trouble when the blow torch is applied to them.
5-0 here when the challenge was put to them, and they seemed to respond pretty poorly when India had a lash at 'em.
It reminds me a bit of Australia in the early 90s when they "weren't quite there yet" in terms of dominance. They had few problems at home, and could beat most teams, but their record away wasn't as good as it should have been, esp. in the subcontinent, and they couldn't crack the Windies. Likewise, they'd occasionally suffer lapses with the bat which led to dramatic collapses.
I think there are a few excuses for England here - firstly, they have come up against a good side with a much improved seam attack - Zaheer in this match was real quality and the other 2 quickies helped, apart from some brain explosions. Second, a number of their bowlers are on the injured list, although frankly Hoggard and Flintoff are the two they really miss imo - Harmison they should not miss at all, and Jones is the great unknown because he's played so sporadically over the years. Thirdly, they were of course very unlucky with the weather at Lord's where they were a bee's proverbial from a comprehensive win.
Nevertheless, there are a few issues which concern me about England if they are to take that next step.
Firstly, there is a real fragility about their middle order against quality bowling (I know, that applies to most teams). But I think Nasser raised some good points after the test finished last night, namely that while we'd all like to go at 3.5 - 4 rpo, there are times in test cricket when you simply can't, times when you need to grind it out. There are some players in the England team who need to realise that, and as Nasser said, grind out a 5 hour ton instead of blazing away to a 3 hour ton. He suggested that there are some guys in that England team who may well be flat track bullies. That may be a bit harsh, then again maybe not. Contrast the approach of some of their players in the 1st innings this test with, say, a Mike Hussey who also likes to dominate, but when things require it, can knuckle down and grind things out as well as any one.
Secondly, their current attack is very raw for test level, although I accept that Sidebottom is a seasoned professional. Tremlett bowled well yesterday in particular, but really, it was frankly too little too late. Anderson? The jury's still out for mine - I know he was fantastic at Lord's but when the acid was applied, his efforts in this test were far closer to the ones he turned out in Australia last summer than they were in the 1st test v India. The commentators yesterday went on with all this psychobabble "It sends a message for the Oval" crap - they had 4 days to send a message, for goodness sake, and delivered a mere puff on day 5, when a fully loaded steam locomotive was neded much earlier.
Another similarity I have seen in this Test which England and Australia have, is that when things aren't going well, their on-field behaviour can deteriorate. One of the things which annoys many Aussie fans is the perception (or reality) that our team has trouble copping it when things are tough. I see that in England as well atm: I see it in Vaughan, in terms of his not disciplining his players and that spoilt brat look he sometimes gets on his face which is reminiscent of Ponting's; as well as some of the other players. I suspect that it arises from having most things go so well for so long, especially at home, without really being tested.
Thirdly, their mental state/ strength. The Jelly Bean fiasco raises an interesting point. What is the state of mind of a team which plays a joke like that? I accept that it's a bit of a giggle and all, but really where is your head at if you are sufficiently bored in the middle of a test match to play a game like that? Interesting that it was done to Zaheer, and not to any of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman or Dhoni. Mind you, based on recent photos I've seen, had Sehwag been playing, he'd have lapped the jelly beans up - literally.
Likewise the chest beating which both sides in this match went on with was, frankly, laughable. It's all well and good to talk the talk, but what sets players like S Waugh apart from those on display in this match, is that he walked the walk and backed it up - neither team on display in this series frankly has a great recent record in doing that when things get tough. So often players mistake the idea of being "hard" and playing hard cricket with sledging the living daylights out of each other. It isn't. Being hard means that when things are tough, you fight harder and bring all you can muster to get your job done. The really hard players, imo, don't waste their energy on sledging when things are really tough - they're too busy concerntrating on getting the job done for their team by scoring runs or taking wickets.
Interestingly, both Aus and England don't seem to display this characteristic as much when they are playing each other. Whether familiarity breeds respect or not, I don't know. Whilst there have been some incidents between the two countries, in general, both of the last Ashes series appear to have been played in reasonably good to very good spirits.
'Twas a good test to watch this last one, and well done to India. Both sides, however, as Bumble said last night, need to get the rubbish out of their games and get back to doing what they do best - playing hard, competitive cricket - in the sense that I have just described it.
