It seems like a lifetime ago when I wrote in eager anticipation of a tight Test contest between two great sides. Could anyone have predicted that only one of those teams would turn up and play? This morning I thought that maybe at last India would show a bit of fight, some tenacity, a reminder of why they have been such a formidable outfit in recent years. Indeed, Tendulkar and Mishra survived a whole session together and there were some great shots amidst the defence and playing and missing. The surprise was that most of them came from nightwatchman Mishra, and it was he, and not Sachin, who looked most likely to reach three figures: century number one, not one hundred!
Of course, neither reached their respective milestones, and then India capitulated dreadfully, losing their last seven wickets for 21 runs. Says it all, really. Looking at the sequence of results you may be forgiven for thinking England had been playing the series against Bangladesh, not the world champions: 196 runs, 319 runs, an innings and 242 and now an innings and 8. How Dhoni and Fletcher can hold their heads up high, I don't know, but at least they can restore some semblance of pride by winning some ODIs before making the long flight back to Asia.
In four matches, India took only 47 English wickets. That's only one more than the total taken by Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad alone! No fewer than seven England batsmen averaged at least 50 with the bat, compared with just one for India. Probably the easiest decision Andy Flower had to make this series was the Indian Player of the Series: the redoubtable Rahul Dravid. He compiled three centuries and 461 runs, more than Tendulkar and Laxman combined, even 'carrying his bat' in the first innings at The Oval, while all around him seemed keener to throw their willows into their kit bag as quickly as possible.
Stuart Broad may not be the most consistent or the calmest of performers but his all-round play earned him the England Player of the Series award. Almost anyone of those who wore the blue cap deserved massive acclaim. Pietersen and Bell bossed the bowlers completely and utterly and when Cook finally came good, he did so in spades. Prior, Morgan, even Bresnan proved more than a match for the hapless Indian attack and even had Zaheer Khan managed more than the 13 overs he bowled, the result would surely have been the same, though perhaps not quite as emphatic.
It was a series for the seamers, not the spinners. First Harbajhan, then Mishra disappointed, and it wasn't until the final day of the last Test that Graeme Swann found the right line, length and drift to bag six wickets. India may claim tough luck with injuries and Zaheer Khan and Sehwag were badly missed, and poor Gambhir was in la-la land after being hit on the head early in the 4th Test. However, the rest of the team, Dravid apart, also seemed to be play as if concussed!
Maybe I'm being too hard on India. Perhaps they didn't play badly after all. In the end, cricket is a contest between bat and ball. Side A's bowlers can be brilliant but if Side B batsmen are better, they can win. Any line-up featuring Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Raina and Dhoni should be good enough to top 300 at least once in a four-match rubber but they didn't.
So why not? Two reasons, I think. Firstly, they put far too much stall on limited-overs cricket. Too many players put the IPL first and were nowhere near match-fit for five-day fixtures, batting, bowling or fielding. The other half had just returned from a tough tour of the West Indies. Even in the Taunton warm-up they looked jaded, and the jet lag seemed to last six weeks.
The other reason, of course, is that England were just magnificent. I can't recall an England side playing with such purpose, confidence and determination in my lifetime. There are few real stars in the Sachin/Dravid/Ponting/Afridi/Steyn mould but they all do their bit and deserve their claim to the 'Mace' that goes to the ICC number one nation. Credit must also go to captain Strauss, Andy Flower and the other backroom staff like Graham Gooch and David Saker. The latter must have truly earned his salary by forging a world-beating pace unit out of temperamental Broad, in-and-out Anderson, forgotten Tremlett and 'one-day specialist' Bresnan to accompany the mercurial Swann. I reckon the Aussie must be the real man of the series.
Now for the T20 and one-dayers. I just hope to see some genuinely thrilling contests. A whitewash is great in the short-term for England fans but it's a disappointment for sport. And please, Mr Tendulkar, just score that blasted hundredth hundred!!
