Mark Butcher will no doubt wake up tomorrow morning to at least one headline pun about being in the runs. He batted for 253 minutes on the verge of a stomach explosion, as he fell foul of the same bug that had affected Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Andy Flintoff. As Butcher put it, "after laughing at Vaughnie profusely yesterday, I picked it up this morning". There were mutterings in the England camp that the jips had come care of the food at the ground, lovingly prepared by the team hotel - chicken, daal and sandwiches. The chef was on the front page of the Indian Express this morning saying how excited he was about cooking for the teams and how pleased everyone was with it.

But if Butcher had to run off the field a couple of times to plug himself with imodium and have "a bit of a visit to the porcelain bowl" it was, he said, a very satisfying day. Especially because the runs had come against his nemesis - spin.

"I've been improving [against spin] all the time. It hasn't been my strongest suit as has been well documented. But I've got a bit of a game plan and have worked very hard at it for the last 18 months or so and it is paying off at the moment."

Butcher struggled early on against Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble - stumbling towards them like he was batting in a swamp. But, slowly, the mud dried up and soon he was dancing, sweeping superbly and driving through the covers with confidence. Confidence is the key for Butcher, and that 173 not out has turned out to be a soothing hand on the stomach.

"I think that I got a lot of confidence from the entire series against Australia. I felt that I was playing really well and Headingley was the icing on the cake. The confidence that playing an innings like that gives you helps you overcome any obstacles really.

"I've been out here and haven't scored many runs in the warm-up games but have just been very happy with the way I've been hitting the ball. So I knew it was just a matter of maybe a Test-match situation to get that concentration level in the right place and go on and score some runs."

Two fifties in one match is a pretty good hand, though Butcher was annoyed with himself for not going on to make his fourth Test century.

"It was very frustrating. It was a little goal I'd set myself to get a Test-match hundred over here. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, but having put the team in a position where we can push on and win the game I'm disappointed in one hand but happy with the day's work in the other."

Happy with the day's work but realistic. "Any side with Tendulkar in it is a major threat. "

Tanya Aldred, our assistant editor, is covering the tour for Wisden.com. And yes, she's suffering too.

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