I still think it might be a draw

What a final day we have in prospect. Day four probably ended in the sort of position most people expected at the start of the day, but nobody could have predicted that England would collapse so spectacularly. Such was their first innings lead that a score of 62-5 was not a time for huge jitters, but it was certainly a time for some concern.

Cue a remarkable partnership between Matt Prior and Stuart Broad. What a cricketer Prior has become. It is still a mystery why he cannot crack the one-day stuff, but he has made himself into maybe the finest batsman/wicketkeeper in Test cricket at the moment. Indeed I heard Ian Botham on TV commentary saying that he was the best today. I don’t always agree with Botham, but this might just be one of those rare occasions.

It does tickle me that there are still those around the county cricket who blather on about the many other wicketkeepers that should be taking Prior’s place. His keeping is fine. I never thought it was as poor as many made out in his early days. He had some difficult conditions in which to keep- the rasping heat of Sri Lanka and a horribly low pitch in Trinidad are a couple of examples. And we can often be a little snobbish about wicketkeeping in England, with all that old-fashioned, romantic nonsense about specialists who cannot bat. Prior is a gem.

And so is Broad. A tip of the cap to the England management for their selection of him in this match. So many people called for Tim Bresnan, and it was probably a close call, but they stuck with Broad and he has rewarded them royally. He has looked like the champion cricketer we know he can be. And it was little surprise that he took the only wicket this evening. He is on a roll, as they say.

How many more can England take tomorrow, though? There are so many factors to take into account. Will Gautam Gambhir bat? Will the pitch deteriorate? Will the ball swing? And, of course, Sachin Tendulkar can only bat after five wickets have been taken.

I’m inclined to predict a draw, not because I think England are incapable of winning, but rather because I do not trust the pitch to offer enough assistance. We’ve seen it happen too many times before in the recent past. But we also saw a wonderful finish- and a win for England- in the 2009 Ashes match.

What will it be? Your thoughts please..

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?