Well, I've just about seen it all now! I did write last week that Cook and Strauss were due some runs and, boy, has young Alastair proved me right?! To compile 294, 70 more than the entire supposedly world-beating Indian batting side, was amazing, and England continued to break records at Edgbaston.
Declaring at more than 700, with a lead not far short of 500, is really rubbing salt into the wound, but to what extent was that wound initially self-inflicted? A half-hearted practice at Taunton, then straight into a big Test series with half the side drained after the Windies tour and the other half completely out of practice in the first-class game. I may be doing them a disservice but even the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni and Sharma haven't really looked interested. Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh have suffered injuries and are probably relieved to be out of the fray. And look what happens to Verinder Sehwag? Rushed back into the side and hailed as a potential saviour and his two innings each lasted one ball! When what was needed was a bit of application, after two days thinking about it in the field, he plays a ridiculous attempted drive without moving his feet and edges an outswinger from Anderson to a grateful Strauss at first slip. Crazy!
With Anderson, Bresnan, Broad, Swann and even Pietersen looking menacing with the ball, it's just a matter of time on Saturday before England wrap up another massive victory over the side that has dominated international cricket for the past few years. Not even Dravid, Sachin and Laxman can bat out two days, even at the peak of their powers, and the forecast suggests Midlands rain will not come to their rescue.
What they need to show is exactly what Alastair Cook brought to his batting. The shortage of boundaries may not always have made for exciting cricket but he demonstrated what Test cricket is about: defend or leave the good balls and punish the bad, and watch the scoreboard tick over. It helps to have a Pietersen, Morgan and Bresnan at the other end to give the bowlers some destructive treatment, but Cook deserves all the praise. After the Ashes success, he didn't get his mindset screwed up by World Cups or IPL and, while the first two matches against India were pretty barren for him, class told and he more than made up for those recent failures.
Now everyone in the England side, Bopara apart, has made significant contributions to the cause, and that is this new England squad's greatest strength. It's quite sad that India have capitulated so meekly so far. At least the 2005 and to some extent the 1981 Ashes series were memorable not just because England triumphed but because they produced some thrillingly close matches which could have gone either way. However, England fans can, for the first time I can remember, really crow about being on top of the world. I don't count the T20 World Cup but Test cricket is what it's really about and Strauss's side are looking not like the lucky winners or plucky losers of old but the Steve Waugh era Aussies, good enough to grind all opposition into the dust and knowing it!
