This England squad are proving to be a team of two halves, as we feared, but not quite in the way that we feared. The batsmen are good, but mostly not at their best - and some of their fielding has been terrible. The bowlers, with much less talent and experience, are doing their best, and it isn't good enough. This unripe attack could hardly have done more today, and still India gathered a lead of 230. At the start, England had already been in the field for 107 overs and none of India's big four - Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman - had been out. At 262 for 3, India could realistically have aimed for 800.

A combination of misfortune and impatience made sure that that soon seemed fanciful. England got lucky with Dravid's lbw but coped with the other celebrities quite well. Richard Dawson showed that he has something that you can't be taught at university, or even the Yorkshire academy: a head for the big occasion. The plan for Tendulkar - suffocation, basically - may have been boring, but it is hard to see what else Nasser Hussain could have done with his meagre arsenal. When a man can play a forward-defensive that shoots past a startled mid-on for four, as Tendulkar did off Hoggard, he demands special treatment.

Hussain showed his usual mental agility by switching to a policy of aerial bombardment for Ganguly, and a mixture of the two for Laxman. But the fact that scores of 88, 47 and 28 for these three came across as a victory for England tells its own story. Expecting nothing from their bowlers, England fans were pleasantly surprised when they commanded respect. It is all too reminiscent of South Africa two years ago, when England took a squad so stuffed with beginners that an honourable defeat was the limit of their ambition.

Here, thanks to the bowlers' parsimony and Butcher and Trescothick's self-denial (plus that little jig, Somerset's answer to Riverdance), there is a glimmer of a chance of escaping with a draw. Hussain will probably have to play the big innings he got half-way to on Monday, and at least one of Thorpe and Ramprakash will need to be at their best. You wouldn't bet on it.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden.com and former editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly.

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