Kohli's weakness grows wider

Virat Kohli's is a game without any other glaring weakness but England have clearly tried to play on the attacking batsman's ego a bit but starving him outside off stump

Not worried by Indian follow-on - Rahane

Trent Bridge
Just after lunch on day one, James Anderson and Stuart Broad bowl eight deliveries at Virat Kohli. Seven of them are outside off, one is short enough to be left alone. The eighth one of those is short of a length and wide, albeit from wide on the crease with the angle making Kohli play. Kohli plays, pushing away from the body, and his bat nudges it through for a catch to slip.

Ageas Bowl
Kohli has had a longer innings than at Trent Bridge. Fifty-three of the 75 balls he faces are pitched on a length or short of it, and arrive at him either outside off or really wide outside off. He has left alone 22 of those. The second ball of the 47th over is short of a length and wide, and he goes after it. The edge flies high to first slip and is not held. Anderson bowls the next over. Five balls outside off, three defended, two left alone. The sixth ball is short of a length and wide, Kohli can easily leave it, but he goes feeling for it, and he edges it through. This is the shot batsmen hate the most: a meek push to a ball that can be left alone; even if you middle it, you are not going to get anything.

Auckland ODI, January 2014
Hamish Bennett bowls two maidens to Kohli comprised almost exclusively of quick short-of-a-length balls that are at the seventh stump or wider. This is an ODI and the asking rate is big, but you can see Kohli is itching to feel the ball on the bat, and eventually nicks off.

Durban, December 2013
Once again, playing at a shortish ball outside off, Kohli is given out caught at the wicket. He is unfortunate, he hasn't hit this one, but he is pushing at a ball that can be left alone both on line and length.

A few similar dismissals might not yet point to a major weakness, but bowlers are increasingly bowling well outside off to Kohli. Dry up the runs, ask Kohli to play out of his comfort zone, on and around off where he cover-drives as well as anyone, and go away from the body if he wants those runs he so itches to get.

Kohli is an aggressive batsman, he loves to get early into an innings and set the tempo. His best innings in Test cricket have been those where he has restrained himself to leave and leave and leave until the bowlers bowl at him. At the Wanderers late last year, when Kohli scored a superlative hundred with the ball seaming around on day one, he didn't play at 16 of the first 28 deliveries he faced. He got himself in, got some runs before lunch, and then when the afternoon session began, he offered no shot to 11 of the first 17 he faced.

This is not as much a technical flaw as it is a habit, in that it is easier to correct than, say, being poor against the short ball. It is unique, too, in that batsmen usually are vulnerable when the ball is just outside off, and not wide of it. And Kohli's is a game without any other glaring weakness. England have clearly tried to play on the attacking batsman's ego a bit. If you bowl at the stumps, he gets solidly behind them, begins to feel confident feeling the ball on the bat and then drives gorgeously. In this series, in five innings, Kohli has managed only 11 runs through that cover-drive of his. The idea has been to not get too close to him either on length or line.

More than half the balls Kohli has faced in the series have been on a length or just short of it, and outside off or well wide of it. "Still two Tests to go. Not sure I can discuss that," Stuart Broad said when asked if they have been bowling wider at Kohli than they would other batsmen. "Let's just say he is pretty strong off his legs so you don't want to bowl too tight to the stumps. You have seen in one-day cricket how successful he is when bowlers bowl tight lines. We have worked - when the ball has not been swinging or the slightly flatter wickets - to just try to dot him up, try to not let him score. He left pretty well today. Apart from the one that he poked at. He will be frustrated with himself. We need to keep our disciplines with him."

Kohli has scored just 73 over these five innings, and will be under pressure after he came to England as the best batsman in the Indian line-up. Kohli has been working hard. Two days before the Test began he was in the nets before the rest of the team arrived. What he will be annoyed with is that he has fallen twice to a tame poke well outside off. The one he got at Lord's, with Anderson angling in towards off and then having it move away from just outside it, was a good delivery. That dismissal shouldn't concern him. This one should. Trent Bridge should. Watch out for those wide ones when he comes in to bat next.

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Indiscipline could cost West Indies cricket - Roberts

Darren Sammy believes that Tino Best still has a part to play in the St Lucia Zouks' 2014 CPL campaign despite his disciplinary problems. Best and Shoaib Malik were fined following a clash on July 23, with both players pleading guilty to their respective charges.

Sammy maintained that Best had a lot to offer the regional game, but needed to live up to his seniority as a West Indian international after concerns were raised by Best's franchise mentor Andy Roberts.

"Tino is a special character. The more I've played with him, the more I grew to understand him and the person he is," Sammy said. "In any cricket game, you want to play in the true spirit of the game. I hope it gets better because he's not a young man. But he's still integral to our team."

Sammy believes that while Best's reputation precedes him, the bowler is one who can be reined in and utilised to the franchise's advantage.

"Once we control him and use his head a bit more wisely, he's a good asset for us. The cricket is being played on the field. We've spoken to Tino and I see all of you [the media] all pointing towards Tino Best, but there were two guys involved in the incident. It was not just one person.

"Everybody keeps jumping on Tino, Tino, Tino. It takes two hands to clap. We've dealt with it the best way possible and we're moving on now."

The CPL management had also stated that there were investigations into an incident at the hotel stemming from the fall-out of the Best-Malik clash, with sources indicating that the Barbados Tridents captain Kieron Pollard was involved.

Pollard had also exchanged words with Best on the field after the Malik incident. Roberts confirmed that he had spoken to Pollard over the fracas at the hotel. Further speculation was fuelled when Sammy confirmed that the management opted for Best not to travel to Trinidad for the weekend game against Red Steel.

Roberts was worried that the indiscipline in West Indies cricket could erode their talent-pool, and hinted that it may have been Pollard who had instigated the incident.

"Not for a lack of trying, I've spoken to Tino," he said. "Many people have, over and over again. Cricket is also a mental game, not just about talent. After the hotel incident, I spoke to Pollard about it and he was apologetic."

Roberts said that the team needed to focus on consistency and playing well in pressure situations as opposed to sledging and other on-field antics.

"This sort of thing could hurt Tino's career on a regional and international level. It's been happening for years now and he needs to learn. Back when I played, we didn't do much talking. We just did our jobs with the ball and had a glare. You need to be mentally strong and disciplined. You can't be taught that. Either you have it or you don't."

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England rediscover their swing

Instead of the joyless England side we have seen in recent times we saw a team with renewed vigour and belief and they go into the final two days with a chance of forcing victory

#politeenquiries: Is Kohli no more than a flat track bully?

It was the sort of draining day on which tempers can flare and disagreements brew. It was the sort of pitch on which seamers can lose heart and sides - particularly those without a win in almost a year - can lose confidence. And India have the sort of batting line-up which can make bowlers wish they had become plumbers or matadors or, most of all, batsmen.

But despite the climbing temperatures and the rising total, England's bowlers produced one of their best performances of the summer on the third day at the Ageas Bowl. And, whatever the bald figures on the scorecard might show, England's senior bowlers led the way admirably.

It was not perfect. Perhaps James Anderson could have pitched the ball up another six inches; perhaps a couple of tough chances might have been taken in the slips and certainly Chris Jordan looks nervous upon his return to the team - dropping a man after two Tests can do that.

But on another flat pitch offering little to bowlers of any description, England can feel well satisfied that they go into the final two days of the game with a chance of forcing victory.

But the game is not entirely safe. With England reluctant to enforce the follow-on even if it is an option, Alastair Cook will face an intriguing test of his captaincy if he has to make a declaration on the fourth afternoon. His bowlers are keen to put their feet up for a minimum of 40 overs on day four.

Cook will know his team needs the best part of four sessions to bowl out India on this surface. But he will also know that setting such a proficient ODI side anything less than 400 in around 120 overs is something of a risk. However much England need the victory, the thought of going 2-0 down in this series is likely to have a sobering effect.

Such issues can wait. After three days, England can feel encouraged that, for the first time since the change of coach, there appeared to be signs of progress in the development of the new-look team.

While it would be wrong to read too much into a couple of days of cricket, it does seem that a slight change of approach - a temperamental as much as a tactical change - has seen England playing a more positive, more effective brand of cricket.

Certainly that was the view of Stuart Broad. On the day that Broad, who bowled immaculately, and Anderson, who bowled with pace and skill, became one of a select group of fast bowlers to take 500 Test wickets in partnership with one another.

Many regard them as the third such fast-bowling partnership to reach the landmark pair after Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis - although it is a somewhat notional statistic and it can also be contended that Jacques Kallis should also be included twice for his partnerships both with Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

Instead of the joyless England side we have seen in recent times - a side that have sometimes seemed resigned to spending several sessions in the field even as they mark their run-outs for the first time - we saw a team with renewed vigour and belief. We saw a team with a short-leg instead of a square leg. We saw a team retain a full slip cordon instead of a third man and sweeper and we saw a team use the short ball, not so much to avoid being driven, but as a shock delivery to prevent the batsmen simply propping forward.

True, the results were not immediately apparent. But to take seven wickets in a day on this pitch was no mean effort. With Anderson gaining swing throughout the day and using the short ball effectively, Broad maintaining a McGrath-like line and length and Chris Woakes, improved in discipline and pace, adding reliable support, pressure built upon the Indian batsmen leading to what might appear, out of context, some inexplicable strokes. The accumulative effects of scoreboard pressure and demanding bowling should never be underestimated.

Broad also credited the advice of the coach, Peter Moores, with inspiring the revived performance.

"Before this Test, Mooresy came to a few of us and said 'just go and express yourself'," Broad said. "He said 'Don't worry about having to take responsibility, just go and play, like it's your first Test'. I think that's shone through a little bit. I know it freed me up a little bit. Everyone was having a laugh; everyone had smiles on their faces and I think that showed in our cricket. We kept the energy up throughout the whole day. We were brilliant."

It is not surprising that England had lost confidence in recent times. The disappointment - shellshock, even - of their Ashes defeat and the departure of several players who had become fixtures in the dressing room had sapped some of the belief out of the side. If players as reliable as Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior could fall to the ravages of time and fate, then no one was safe.

But such thoughts had to be banished. And Broad, at least, felt the side were working their way back towards the more positive brand of cricket that earned them success against India in the 2011 series.

"Personally, I am an attacking cricketer and maybe I had fallen into a defensive mindset," Broad explained. "Today was about leaving the past behind and just going and expressing yourself.

"I think maybe the senior players have put too much pressure on themselves after what, since the Durham Test, has been a pretty tough run. Maybe we got a bit uptight.

"We went to Australia and had a tough time of it. Maybe my own mindset had become quite defensive. I had to bowl defensively in Australia and maybe I brought that it into the start of this summer.

"But you saw, I used a short leg today. I had that attacking mindset. I'm at my best when I'm attacking and playing with flair. I'm an attacking player who fell into a defensive mindset thinking square leg will save runs but actually, let's get some wickets."

It was noticeable, too, that Anderson has been a far less vocal cricketer since being charged by the ICC. Gone is the muttering at the batsmen; gone is the posturing; gone is everything other than the skilful bowler with more than 350 Test wickets. It has not rendered his bowling any less potent.

"We're in a great position in this Test," Broad said. "We hope the wicket will deteriorate a little bit. But we created pressure throughout the day and, though it looked as if Moeen Ali picked up his wickets with freebies, I think that was out of the pressure he'd developed. We got our rewards at the end of the day."

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Satterthwaite and Tahuhu back for New Zealand

Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu will return to the New Zealand line-up after being chosen for September's tour of the West Indies. A 14-player squad has been picked for the trip, which includes four ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals.

Satterthwaite and Tahuhu have replaced Katey Martin and Frances Mackay in the only changes from the squad that played in the World T20 in Bangladesh earlier this year. Coach Hamish Barton said both players deserved to be back in the squad.

"We gave Amy and Lea some areas to work on and we've been really impressed with their commitment to do what has been asked of them," Barton said. "Both of them have shown in the past that they're world-class and they've still got a lot to offer. They've worked incredibly hard to get back in the side and I'm confident they'll take this opportunity.

"We've got a number of exciting young players in the side and this tour will be a huge step in their development. However it's equally important to have players with experience and knowledge of the conditions and we have that too, so we've got the right mix."

Squad Suzie Bates (capt), Sam Curtis, Sara McGlashan, Sophie Devine, Katie Perkins, Amy Satterthwaite, Rachel Priest, Felicity Leydon-Davis, Morna Nielsen, Holly Huddleston, Lea Tahuhu, Hayley Jensen, Maddy Green, Georgia Guy.

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Pankaj singed by tough debut

After striving so long to play Test cricket, Pankaj Singh's luck deserted him and then his discipline too

Highlights: Pankaj Singh's frustration grew after a serious of close shaves went against him on Test debut

Pankaj Singh's wicket column was empty. Two days at the new job. No returns. Many times he stood in the field, hands on hips with a helpless expression. He would walk back to his bowling mark shaking his head when luck did not smile on him. You could understand his frustration.

It was a tough initiation for the man who had cried his heart out at the turn of the New Year, asking the selectors to give him one chance at playing Test cricket. On Sunday the dream became reality when Pankaj was handed his Test cap by former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

On Monday, Pankaj sprinted in from backward short leg full of energy and renewed hopes. He settled in quickly, with his fourth delivery whistling past the outside edge off Ian Bell's hanging bat. The next ball, Bell once again was lured into playing and missing as once again the ball seamed away, missed the edge and MS Dhoni caught the ball at waist height.

Bell should not even have been there, if you asked Pankaj. In the first over after the second new ball was taken late on Sunday afternoon, Pankaj, bowling from Northern End, had managed to bend a delivery which seemed to be going down leg but swerved into Bell's pads at the very last moment. Not only did it catch Bell by surprise but even the umpire, Rod Tucker, was caught off guard. Pankaj shrieked out a prolonged appeal, nearly squatting, but Tucker remained unimpressed.

While picking up his hat Pankaj checked with Tucker, who might have noted the ball would have gone down the leg side at first sight. According to Hawk-Eye, the ball would have gone on to hit the top of the middle stump. Pankaj had bowled with decent control and intensity on his first day of work, proving he was a capable replacement for the injured Ishant Sharma. He would have had the wicket of Alastair Cook, too, had Ravindra Jadeja not dropped the chance.

First ball of Pankaj's second over today, Bell was forced to play at an outswinger, but the resultant edge zipped past the empty fourth slip pocket. Pankaj grimaced. It was a similar expression he had displayed at the end of the hard day's work at stumps on Sunday. After he had delivered the final ball of the day, Pankaj bent over with his hands on his knees out in the middle of his pitch with an exhausted and helpless look.

You could not help but feel for Pankaj. He had strived hard to reach the international stage. His journey started in a rural village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh before he moved down south where he worked part-time at a sweet shop in Bangalore while pursuing dreams of playing top-level cricket. He moved to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai before heading to play domestic cricket for the west state of Rajasthan, where he has grown into their best bowler, leader and mentor to youngsters.

Pankaj was the central architect of Rajasthan winning the Ranji Trophy title in successive years in 2011 and 2012 seasons. He has been the most consistent, high-performing fast bowler in the last five years in Indian first-class cricket.

Yet Pankaj continued to be ignored by the selectors, who did not even deem him fit to play on India A tours. No selector ever told him what they expected of him or what they needed him to work on. Each time a team was announced, Pankaj would just swallow the pain and get on with the job. With such a compelling back-story, Pankaj, at 29 years old, was bound to be emotional on his debut.

It is also easy to understand his eagerness to make an impact. It is like being in the first week of job. It is natural you want to impress - more yourself than others. You want to feel that you have earned your job.

Credit to him, on the first day Pankaj did not show nerves. He bowled tidily and mostly followed his captain MS Dhoni's instructions. After every over Dhoni would share insights and tips with the debutant. It was important to tell the bowler he had his captain's confidence. Giving Pankaj the second new ball was a cue.

	A decent percentage of Pankaj's 258 first-class wickets for Rajasthan was of batsmen who can easily get distracted. International batsmen are a different breed. Pankaj would have learned that lesson by now

Yet Pankaj was a lost soul on Monday, especially after lunch. It did not help his cause that Dhoni never allowed his bowlers to settle into a rhythm, as Pankaj bowled six one-over spells in the second session. Pankaj, broad-shouldered, 6ft 4in tall, uses a lot of his body in his action. He relies on rhythm to plot his wickets. So Dhoni's out-of-the-box method did not especially aid Pankaj.

However, it was not Dhoni's fault that Pankaj strayed in his lines and lengths. Too many times today he lost control by either spraying it short and wide or down the leg side, offering easy shots for Bell and Gary Balance in the morning and later Bell and Jos Butler in the afternoon.

For Rajasthan, a decent percentage of Pankaj's 258 first-class wickets was of batsmen who can easily get distracted. International batsmen are a different breed. Pankaj would have learned that lesson by now. His duel with Bell was a fascinating example. Bell had played and missed frequently but any room he got from Pankaj he punished the bowler: like the solid, back-foot square drive in the morning, standing high on his toes, that raced to the boundary and pushed Pankaj back into his corner.

Pankaj was desperate. But he needs to understand being successful is not only about taking wickets. It is also about working for your bowling partners. Whenever he was thrown the ball, he needed to be disciplined, especially on a placid and slow pitch, to not lose the momentum which would only put pressure on the rest of the bowling. It was important to stick to the off-stump line and bowl the channels - a simple, monotonous chore, yet one that has proved effective for every successful fast bowler. What stands in Pankaj's favour is he has employed that same method on unresponsive, flat pitches in India for the last decade.

It is easy to get frustrated. It is easy to feel you are on your own when you finish as the second most-expensive bowler without a wicket in your first outing. But Pankaj is not alone there. Michael Holding recollected his debut Test in Brisbane in 1975 tour of Australia where he finished wicketless.

That is the truth in Test cricket: it can be a lonely place when things are not going your way. As a debutant you want to feel belonged on your first days at work. But you need to clock a lot of mileage before you get to that spot.

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ECB defends Moeen's 'Save Gaza' wristband

The ECB has defended Moeen Ali for wearing wristbands with the slogans "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine" during the third Investec Test between England and India at The Ageas Bowl.

Moeen, a devout Muslim who welcomes the position of role-model and says he wears a long beard as he "wants people to know I am a Muslim", first wore the wrist bands when batting in England's first innings. He had not informed the ECB that he was going to wear them and continued to wear them in the field on the second evening.

He has not been asked to remove them, but he could face sanctions from the ICC if they decide he has contravened their clothing and equipment regulations.

According to section F of the relevant ICC code: "Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey messages through arm bands or other items affixed to clothing or equipment unless approved in advance by the player or team official's Board. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes."

An ICC spokesman confirmed they were investigating the matter. Moeen, playing just his fifth Test, faces a maximum penalty of a fine of up to 50 per cent of his match fee if he is deemed to have committed a Level One offence.

But an ECB spokesman insisted Moeen's stance was "humanitarian not political" and stated that "the ECB do not believe he has committed any offence." It was also pointed out that, on the third day of the current Test, the entire England team, Moeen included, will wear shirts sporting the Help for Heroes logo. Help for Heroes describes itself as "a UK military charity… formed to help those wounded in Britain's current conflicts."

There will also be a minute's silence observed by both teams to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War at 10.56am.

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Weary India facing familiar test

After being pushed on to the defensive in the field, it is up to India's batsmen to try and prevent a return to the bad old days of touring

India's struggles were compounded by a third umpire ruling that went against them followed by missed chances

A five-Test series was always going to be a challenge for India. In the second half of the first back-to-back Tests, at Lord's, they gave it their all: batsmen showed discipline for long hours, bowlers bowled long testing spells, MS Dhoni went against the grain and showed rare aggression and tactical nous as captain. But the question always was, how much did it take out of India?

In Southampton, Ishant Sharma was ruled out with an injury broadly described by India as a "sore leg", Bhuvneshwar Kumar was down on intensity, with the ball not seaming as much as it did at Lord's, and Mohammed Shami's lack of discipline became exposed when others around him didn't bowl that well. Now it's down to the batsmen once again to make sure India do not fall back to the bad old days.

It didn't help India that their slips give no confidence to the bowlers - another catch went down, another catch that the wicketkeeper should have gone for - but the bigger concern would be that they decided too early that the pitch was too flat and that they couldn't win the match. As early as the middle session of the second day, India went to Ravindra Jadeja as their main bowler, who darted balls into the pads with a six-three leg-side field.

The pursuit, like it was in Durban when they didn't take the second new ball until they were forced to after 146 overs, seemed to just contain and delay England's declaration. It is up for debate if thinking of a draw when your enforcing bowler is injured, you have a long series to go through, and you have the series lead, is such a bad thing, but that attitude can lead to dropping of intensity. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled tirelessly at Lord's for six wickets in the first innings, echoed what was happening out there.

"Wicket is flat, easy for batsman," Bhuvneshwar said. "We tried our best as a bowling unit but we have had two long days."

The two long days led to extreme steps by Dhoni. In the middle session of day two, he had his bowlers bowling one-over spells for a long period. The 16th over after lunch was the first time a bowler had bowled two continuous overs from the same end. When Bhuvneshwar created an opportunity in the second half of the session, he was rewarded with another over. He was testing still, but that's all he got. Debutant Pankaj Singh was brought on for the next over, and the first ball he bowled was a leg-side loosener. That can happen when you don't let the bowlers get into any rhythm.

Bhuvneshwar, though, said the number of overs they have bowled justified that extreme rotation of bowlers. "I found that really easy, being in the field for one-and-a-half days we were really tired," Bhuvneshwar said. "Skipper wanted us to bowl one-over spells. By then we were in rhythm as well and we were not getting tired. Personally we found that easy."

When asked about conceding boundaries on both side of the wicket, Bhuvneshwar brought up fatigue again. "When [Gary] Ballance and [Alastair] Cook were batting, the situation demanded that we bowl on one side," Bhuvneshwar said. "Sometimes we were tired, been a long day in the field, it is natural, we are human beings. We tried our best to bowl in a particular area. We tried different strategies."

The slips' slips can't be put down to tiredness, though. Bhuvneshwar sounded forgiving, although you can't expect him or a lot of other India players to accept in a press conference that there is something wrong with them. "Being a bowler you have to know they are going to take some catches, and they are going to drop a few," Bhuvneshwar said. "Every team drops a few catches, but you have to trust the fielder. You can't ask anyone to come out of the slips. All you want is to give them confidence. It happens in cricket that catches are dropped. So far, in all three matches it has been good for us."

Tired bowlers, one injured bowler, dropped catches, dropped pace, captaincy waiting for declaration, an early wicket before stumps, it all sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster. India will dearly love to go to Old Trafford still ahead in the series but their batsmen have a long way to go to ensure that, going by how well James Anderson bowled in that seven-over burst and how the pitch has responded to his pace as opposed to India's put-it-there bowlers.

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Encouragement for England - but no more

Gary Ballance, Ian Bell and Jos Buttler piled on the pain for India but luck played its part and judgement should be reserved for tougher tests

#politeenquiries: Are the cricketing gods turning?

It seems churlish to find fault. It feels like going to a wedding and pointing out that almost a third of marriages end in divorce and that the cake will make you fat. But England would be guilty of wishful thinking if they concluded that all their problems are over after a couple of good days in the office.

Let's be clear: England's batting on the first two days of the third Investec Test at the Ageas Bowl was admirable. They established a strong platform through the top three and they accelerated intelligently and selflessly as the innings progressed. The return to form of Ian Bell was welcome and Jos Buttler provided a reminder that he has an unusual ability to destroy bowling and an exciting future. Gary Ballance, meanwhile, underlined the impression that whatever batting records Alastair Cook sets, he may well break them.

And, just as excuses are largely irrelevant in defeat, so caveats should be in success. If England made use of a flat pitch and a jaded attack, it is because they earned those conditions: by electing to bat and wearing down the bowlers, they partially created the environment in which they flourished. For many months, they have been criticised for failing to score 400 in an innings - they failed to do so between March 2013 and June 2014 - so to do so three times in the last eight innings is a welcome sign of progress. You might even conclude that there were shades of the 2011 series in the day's play.

But… when players go through poor patches, they generally suggest that they are focusing on their "processes" and not allowing themselves to worry too much about the outcomes. In short, they are working hard and hoping for the best.

So it is probably wrong to judge a performance solely on the outcome. Just as a batsman, or even a team, can be undone by unplayable bowling, so they can be gifted runs by dreadful bowling. We are fools to judge them as heroes or villains on such evidence. The best players are sometimes the ones good enough to edge the best deliveries.

The truth is that, one of the key differences in this innings to some of the others this summer, was that England enjoyed better fortune. Had Cook not been dropped on 15, had Bell and Buttler been given out on 0 (replays suggested Bell was lbw on the first day but were inconclusive in regard to a low slip catch offered by Buttler), then the scenario would have been very different. England would have played no differently, but the result would have been radically altered.

This was a performance that taught us almost nothing about the main protagonists. Just as we already knew that Cook was a determined character, we also knew that Bell timed the ball sweetly and that Buttler could be destructive.

But it did not answer more pressing questions. It did not, for example, answer whether Buttler, who was also reprieved on 23 and 59, when MS Dhoni missed a stumping, had the defensive game to prosper at this level. Aged 23 and drafted into the team early due to the decline of Matt Prior, Buttler needs a prolonged run in the side to allow him a chance to acclimatise at this level. But his early nervousness outside off stump did suggest there will be times when he will require patience if he is to achieve his undoubted potential.

It did not answer whether Cook has answered his technical problems outside off stump. And it did not answer whether Bell, now the senior man in the middle-order, can rise to the challenge presented to him by the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott and become the man England rely upon in crisis.

If that sounds churlish, it should be remembered this was Bell's first century in 20 Test innings and a couple of weeks short of a year. And, while it was a beautiful, skilful and important innings, it came when a platform had already been established; he came to the crease with the score 213-2. While Bell was magnificent during the Ashes of 2013, his struggles since have only provoked reminders of his earlier struggles to perform when the pressure was at its greatest.

Even Ballance will experience far more testing conditions. He has responded superbly to the challenge of being asked to bat No. 3 and could hardly have been asked to achieve more. But he has enjoyed a succession of benign pitches this summer and will surely face more exacting scrutiny of his ability in the subcontinent or in Australia.

None of this means that these players will not meet those challenges. But it does mean that we should reserve judgement on the new-look England side until they have faced

To be fair to England, they capitalised handsomely on their luck. Bell provided a masterclass in playing spin bowling, disrupting India's plans by attacking Ravindra Jadeja and, after a nervous start, punishing the impressive Pankaj Singh and the slightly off-colour Mohammed Shami.

Bell both skipped down the wicket and went deep into his crease to disrupt Jadeja's lengths and, in between some handsome lofted drives, also swept cleverly. And if Buttler is, at this stage, a blunter weapon, the manner in which he pulled short balls and reverse swept full ones suggested a talent that could, in time, win many games for England. A less selfless batsman would have played for a century on debut rather than attempted to set-up the declaration.

So this was, without doubt, an encouraging day for England. But far tougher challenges lie ahead and it might prove optimistic to conclude a corner has been turned just yet.

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India's slipshod slips

Ravindra Jadeja's drop of Alastair Cook was indicative of the challenge India face in establishing a reliable cordon

Jadeja's dropped chance at third slip with Cook on 15 proved very costly

It is early in the morning, the pitch is fresh, the ball is seaming around a little, Alastair Cook is uncertain, he pushes at a wide delivery from debutant Pankaj Singh, and the edge is taken. Yet another failure for Cook, yet another early entry for No. 3 Gary Ballance, yet another early breakthrough for India.

Hold on, though. The ball has gone knee high, to Ravindra Jadeja's left at third slip, and has spilled out of his hands. Cook, who was only 15, goes on to score 95, India take only two wickets in the day, and you are left to wonder how the day would have panned out had India taken that catch.

This is not the first time a catch has been dropped in the slips, nor is this the first time the reprieved batsman has made a team pay, but India have now dropped eight in the slip in their last seven matches. And that's only off the fast bowlers. Spinners have suffered too. Losing four big batsmen around two years ago, almost all in one go, was a big challenge for India. This new breed of batsmen has been impressive with the bat, but that slip cordon still looks bare.

It has been 19 Tests since Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retired. India have tried five different first slips over that period, which means the cordon has been rejigged at least five times in 19 Tests. Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, M Vijay and now Shikhar Dhawan have spent time at first slip. That they are being changed so often is clear indication there is something wrong.

It will obviously take some time for those who are not natural slip catchers to get used to fielding there, but there haven't been clear signs of improvement. There have been some really good catches taken: Ashwin almost turned 90 degrees to adjust to a late swerving catch at the Wanderers, Dhawan dived to his right to send back James Anderson in Nottingham, but there have been some glaring errors.

Kohli failed to stay down for long enough when at leg slip to spin at Trent Bridge. When MS Dhoni chose to not go for one between him and first slip at Lord's, Dhawan made no effort either. It was the keeper's catch all right, but good slip fielders are always diving behind the keeper on these occasions to be there, just in case. Pujara once stood there with shin pads on, and couldn't get to a low offering from Cook in Kolkata. Cook then scored 190. Jadeja, who got up too early today, will be thankful he got Cook out for half that score.

There is no fixed right way to go about slip catching, it is mostly about what you are comfortable with, but there are wrong ways. One of the wrong ways is to have legs too far apart in your stance. Mark Taylor says shoulders' width is ideal with the knees pointing in, almost like a skier. Jadeja's stance is at least twice as wide, which makes moving difficult. Another wrong way is to get your hands too far between your legs because than they can get stuck in your knees when you are going for a catch to your side. Jadeja does that. And, obviously, the India slip fielders are getting up too early.

India's slip cordon are mostly excellent athletes and thus very good outfielders. Slip catching, though, is completely different, and much more crucial. You want your bowler to feel confident when running in that all he has to do is just produce the edge. Right now the India quicks can't be confident of that.

The challenge for Trevor Penney, the fielding coach, is huge. The Dhoni-Dhawan no-go is a clear sign of a raw cordon, which is still feeling its way in. They practise really hard during training sessions and take a lot of catches almost every day. They take some sensational catches too. However, it is different when someone is throwing full tosses at Duncan Fletcher from 10 yards and he is opening the face towards the fielders.

We don't know whether India have locked in on a combination now or if there will be a change soon. We don't know if India think they are headed the right way. We don't know if the fielding coach is happy with the cordon's technique and their positioning vis-à-vis each other or if he is struggling to get it right. India don't like to, or are not allowed to, discuss these things. Bullishly Joe Dawes, the bowling coach, said he is happy with the progress, and that Taylor and Mark Waugh used to drop catches occasionally.

What India wouldn't give for a couple of slips men who are half as good as Taylor and Waugh, even at their current age.

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Loyal crowd wills Cook forward

Alastair Cook was under the greatest pressure of his career, but the Southampton crowd was determined to will him forward

#politeenquiries: Do runs solve Cook captaincy issue?

In the late 1960s, with flower-power and hippiedom at their peak, a large group gathered in central London determined to prove the power of positive thinking. If they all concentrated on the same thought at the same time, they believed they could move a building an inch to its left.

It was a similar story at The Ageas Bowl on the first day of the third Investec Test. You could feel the goodwill for England's captain around the ground. You feel the desperation among the spectators, among his teammates, among the coaching staff and even among the majority of the UK media, that Alastair Cook would end his run drought and register his first Test century since May 2013.

Yet, just as the hippies were unable to move that building, so Cook was unable to complete his century. All the goodwill, all the desperation, all the positive thinking was unable to take him the extra inch.

But this innings was no failure. There is too much emphasis on personal milestones in this team game and, just as an innings of 100 would have been celebrated as much as an innings of 105, so this innings of 95 still demonstrated many of Cook's admirable qualities, not least his well-organised batting, his determination and his leadership skills.

It was a brave decision to bat first. A weaker captain, a weaker man, might have seen the green-tinged wicket and used it as an excuse to delay his examination. Cook could easily have chosen to bowl first - as the captain had in the last 10 first-class games at the ground - and hidden behind the explanation that he wanted to give his seamers first use of the wicket. But he knew, deep down, that was the wrong decision for the team and, as ever, he put the team first.

Then, despite a tangible lack of confidence and, as he put it, "under the greatest pressure he had ever been under" he produced the innings his side so desperately required. It was not pretty, it was not smooth and it was not without mistakes.

There were times, with Cook thrusting his hands towards the ball as if trying to remember how he used to bat, when he timed the ball so horribly that you could almost feel the jarring sensation in his arms. And there were times, with the ball making a dead sound after a stroke, when it appeared he might be playing with a piece of driftwood rather than a finely-crafted bat. It was, for the most part, a desperate struggle.

But Cook was never a batsman that you would fall in love with; he was a batsman you could rely upon. And it is reliance, not romance, that England need now.

It would be wrong, though, to suggest this innings answers all the criticism of Cook. It has done little to prove him a good tactician; it has done little to prove him an inspirational leader; it has done little to suggest he is at the start of a golden run of form.

Many county batsmen, if granted 28 consecutive opportunities, would contribute a sizeable innings every so often. The worth of a good Test batsman is contributing consistently. Cook still has to build upon this innings. It if takes another 20 innings for him to contribute, he will have failed. Only Mike Brearley has played more consecutive innings as an England captain and failed to score a century.

There was enduring evidence of some of his technical frailties, too. On a quicker pitch, he might have been caught in the slips from his first ball; instead the edge dropped short. On another day, he would have been caught in the slips on 15; instead Ravi Jadeja put down a relatively simple chance. And on another day, on 29, he might have been caught off the thick edge that flew through gully to the boundary. Luck will always play a large part in this game and Cook also benefited from a slow-paced wicket, a slight off-day from India's seamers and some modest fare from the support bowlers.

But he earned the short balls and wide deliveries. By leaving better outside off stump, by playing straighter, by retaining his patience and composure despite the pressure, he forced the bowlers into attempting different methods of attack and, gradually, they began to feed his strengths. Not one ball was driven to the boundary in the V between mid-off and mid-on, but he cut and pulled often. He will always be a limited player, but when he plays within those limitations he is a mightily effective one.

And, if the runs alone were not enough to remind onlookers of his worth, Cook also passed Kevin Pietersen and David Gower in the list of England's highest run-scorers in Test cricket. He is just 29, remember, and only Alec Stewart and Graham Gooch have scored more than him now.

This was not the end of Cook's journey, but it was a step in the right direction.

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