India dressing room: rain delay fly-on-the-wall

India's latest call-up warms up for action at the Rose Bowl

Behind-the-scenes in the Indian rooms at a rainy Rosebowl…

“Right then you guys,” said Duncan Fletcher. “How about we use this rain delay for a bit of work in the gym?”

He bounced a rugby ball eagerly on the floor and mimed some forward presses.

“That is a most splendid idea, Mr Duncan,” said MS Dhoni. “And thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. Very much the sort of radical ‘out of your box’ thinking that we are keen to hear from you.”

Fletcher looked pleased. “I thought we could start with a really good run around and then I could whack some balls about for everyone to chase and –”

MS held up his hand, smiling benevolently.

“As I say, Mr Duncan, a wonderful suggestion but I think it would be best if we all had a bit of discussion and got back to you with our findings.”

Politely but meaningfully, MS nodded towards the dressing room door. Fletcher trudged out sadly. He took a picture of Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones fooling around with the slip cradle out of his pocket and sighed. Fletcher shut the door behind him.

Parthiv Patel woke up with a start.

“Is that the pizza man? You better not have had my pizzas, you greedy sods. I’ve had nothing since lunch,” said Parthiv.

“It’s okay man, relax,” said Suresh Raina. “It’s just that old guy who tells the scary stories about packs of fast bowlers. He’s harmless enough.”

“Oh thank goodness,” said Parthiv. “I thought I’d missed my pizza.” He went back to sleep on top of a pile of bandages.

“Well then boys,” said MS. “Shall we give this ‘gymnasium’ business a go, then? Rahul swears by it, apparently.”

Praveen Kumar stood up. He picked up a niggle.

“On second thoughts,” said Dhoni. “I don’t think we can afford any more injuries. I’ll tell Fletcher he’ll have to come up with something else.”

India Dressing Room: Rain Delay Fly-On-The-Wall

India's latest call-up warms up for action at the Rose Bowl

Behind-the-scenes in the Indian rooms at a rainy Rosebowl…

“Right then you guys,” said Duncan Fletcher. “How about we use this rain delay for a bit of work in the gym?”

He bounced a rugby ball eagerly on the floor and mimed some forward presses.

“That is a most splendid idea, Mr Duncan,” said MS Dhoni. “And thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. Very much the sort of radical ‘out of your box’ thinking that we are keen to hear from you.”

Fletcher looked pleased. “I thought we could start with a really good run around and then I could whack some balls about for everyone to chase and –”

MS held up his hand, smiling benevolently.

“As I say, Mr Duncan, a wonderful suggestion but I think it would be best if we all had a bit of discussion and got back to you with our findings.”

Politely but meaningfully, MS nodded towards the dressing room door. Fletcher trudged out sadly. He took a picture of Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones fooling around with the slip cradle out of his pocket and sighed. Fletcher shut the door behind him.

Parthiv Patel woke up with a start.

“Is that the pizza man? You better not have had my pizzas, you greedy sods. I’ve had nothing since lunch,” said Parthiv.

“It’s okay man, relax,” said Suresh Raina. “It’s just that old guy who tells the scary stories about packs of fast bowlers. He’s harmless enough.”

“Oh thank goodness,” said Parthiv. “I thought I’d missed my pizza.” He went back to sleep on top of a pile of bandages.

“Well then boys,” said MS. “Shall we give this ‘gymnasium’ business a go, then? Rahul swears by it, apparently.”

Praveen Kumar stood up. He picked up a niggle.

“On second thoughts,” said Dhoni. “I don’t think we can afford any more injuries. I’ll tell Fletcher he’ll have to come up with something else.”

This was a famous performance from England

A famous, famous victory for England. You can point to the early withdrawal from India’s attack of Zaheer Khan, the absence from injury of Virender Sehwag as well as inconveniences to Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir, but the visitors are still ranked the best team in the world. And they won a hugely important toss when bowling conditions were at their most favourable on what turned out to be a flat pitch at Lord’s.

Yes, it was not the sort of featherbed for which I have often criticised the Lord’s groundstaff, but it was still mighty hard work for England to finish the job off today. But that is the thing about this England team: hard graft does not scare them. They are the fittest side in world cricket. They stick to simple plans, because they know they will eventually bring rewards. International cricket is about creating pressure and England’s attack does that wonderfully well. I thought they bowled quite superbly today, all four of them. Some of the Indian dismissals looked like poor shots but often you should not judge a dismissal simply on that one ball. The others around it usually set up the error. That was the case regularly today.

You will know that I predicted a draw, but England’s bowlers were simply too good. It would have been a travesty had they not achieved victory. And how fitting it was that Stuart Broad took the final wicket. What a selection that was. He rose to the occasion magnificently as did the others today in front of a packed house. It did not quite happen for James Anderson in the first innings, but it sure did today. His was as defining a performance of those in the match of Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Broad, heroes all. We should not forget Jonathan Trott’s batting on the first day either. It was always quite stirring stuff; proper Test cricket at its absorbing best.

But it could have been a day that was marred by the absence of the full Decision Review System. India don’t like it, and although that alone should be insufficient to stop its use, they are powerful enough within world cricket circles to persuade others to vote with them. So we have this ridiculous situation whereby lbws cannot be referred. And there were two plumb decisions today – against Tendulkar and Suresh Raina- that were not given. There had been some excellent decisions earlier, but those two were shockers and were exactly the types of decision for which the system was introduced. Just imagine the fuss had the game been drawn and either of those two players had still been there at the end! It cannot be allowed to continue. There is simply too much at stake these days for such howlers to remain unrectified. Television viewers could see the mistakes, and so the players and umpires should be able to too.

What now then? I said on Sunday that it would be a 2-1 series victory for England. But that was with a draw here. It will be fascinating to see how India respond. You never know, it might be the result that Duncan Fletcher needs. Maybe he can exert more influence. I’d never easily write off a side with him as coach, that is for certain. But it looks like 3-1 to me right now, especially if Zaheer is missing for more than one Test. I certainly can’t see a draw in the remaining Tests.

What do you think?