Encouraging performances in the one-day series from Tim Bresnan and Eoin Morgan have showed that England are no slouches in the short form of the game anymore, Bresnan particularly giving the England attack the control and accuracy every good one-day team needs. Eoin Morgan looked in decent touch, giving impetus in the middle order we expect almost every time he gets to the crease. The only criticism being that he never carried on to make the big hundred.
Talking of big hundreds, Alastair Cook continued his great form into the one-dayers and showed exactly why the selectors trusted him with the captaincy. He more than answered his critics with a fast paced century in the first match and then followed with assured contributions from the top of the innings, utilising the powerplays very well with Kieswetter who looked like the break from international cricket had done him some good.
However the real test starts when India land on the English shores, the number one ranked team in the world, world champions etc etc. This will be where this England test and one-day team show their mettle. I believe they have the skills and experience in the test arena to beat India, with Anderson using helpful English conditions to unsettle the Indian batsmen and an in-form batting line up to match.
All the talk will be of Tendulkar getting his 50th test century at Lords, a name still not engraved on the honours board yet and of course we would all like to see the little man's bat held aloft, but I have no doubts that Strauss's men will not be distracted from the task at hand. India have strength in all departments and although Tendulkar may get the initial headlines but I would not be surprised if Gautam Gambir, Zaheer Khan or Rahul Dravid perform better.
