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To beat India is hard enough, to humiliate them is a totally different ball game, and England have done it twice in two games now. To play just four front line bowlers against the best team in the world would seem like a gamble, but India haven’t passed 300 runs in any of their four innings on this tour and that it purely down to the quality that England possess in their bowling attack.
Jimmy Anderson continues to lead the attack and take crucial wickets at key moments. His delivery to VVS Laxman in the India 2nd innings at Trent Bridge was one of the best balls you will ever see, swinging in and then nipping away off the seam past Laxman’s outside edge and onto the top of off stump. Sublime. Stuart Broad ended the 2nd Test with eight wickets that included a 5 wicket hall in the 1st innings and a hat-trick, and bowled really probing, full length deliveries that trapped the Indian batsmen on the crease and caused them all sorts of problems. Tim Bresnan gained his 1st test match 5 wicket hall in the 2nd innings after replacing the injured Chris Tremlett, and I would be very surprised if he loses his place in the team for the 3rd test match on the basis of his performance at Trent Bridge.
However, possibly the most impressive aspect of England’s bowlers in the 2nd Test was their batting, particularly Broad and Bresnan. Broad’s innings of 64 in the England first innings proved to be crucial in restoring England’s chances and taking them to a below par, but just about competitive score of 221, and he hit another emphatic 42 in the second innings that just about served to put the final nail in the Indian coffin. Bresnan hit 90 runs in a manner of the highest quality in the 2nd innings as England moved to amass a total of 544, and coupled with his five wicket hall, he certainly made massive strides into underlying his all rounder potential.
Massive credit also must go to Ian Bell for scoring 159 of the classiest runs that you will ever see in England’s second innings. Technically, Bell is one of the best players England have probably ever had, and when he is confident he makes run scoring look so easy. It’s fair to say that India’s attack did seem toothless without Zaheer Khan, but Bell still batted very well and deserves an enormous amount of credit for the way he played.
India will almost certainly change their team for the next test, with Zaheer, Sehwag and Ghambir all waiting in the wings to return to the fold after injury problems, but this England team are supremely confident at the moment and playing positive, exciting cricket. They cannot lose this series now, and it would take a very brave man to bet against them going on and winning the series outright and cementing their place as the best test team in the world.
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