In the end, it was a bit too much to ask. Without four of their best fast bowlers, and on a surface that stayed benevolent to the last, England were always going to struggle to bowl India out twice. Rahul Dravid had never made a century against them before, and Sachin Tendulkar had not managed a score in the series. You can't defy gravity forever. England tried just about everything: Nasser Hussain had three gullies and no slip to Sourav Ganguly, and Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff bowled beautifully in the pivotal first hour after lunch. But in a situation where England needed all the luck to go their way, none did. Edges fell short of Alec Stewart or between gullies. And the one that did carry - from Dravid to Stewart off Hoggard, in the first over after lunch - was wrongly given not-out.

At that time India were still 49 behind with three wickets down. It had the feel of a decisive moment, and ultimately it was. England just didn't quite have enough. Steve Harmison overcame his sweaty palms to fashion an increasingly impressive debut, and Michael Vaughan completed the match of his life with a wonder ball to Tendulkar, but they missed the likes of Andy Caddick and Alex Tudor.

Harmison kept going zestily through more second-innings overs than anyone, and showed a refreshing ability to blow away tailenders, but a pitch with about as much pace as Laurent Blanc made him difficult to judge. The verdict on Craig White and Dominic Cork, however, is that they are no longer serious Test-match bowlers.

Cork must surely be put out to pasture. Like an old man trying to recapture his glory days on a nightclub dance floor, Cork has nothing to offer but bluster, boloney and a golden arm that somehow persuades good batsmen to drag on long hops, or smack them down deep square-leg's throat. Cork was 31 last week, and it's time for a younger man to strut his stuff.

Like Cork, White has lost his bowling mojo, and bowled only 16 overs in the entire match. He has two strings to his bow, though, and in making a confident, unbeaten 94 has probably put himself on a plane back to Australia. This would be a mistake. In three Tests against Australia last summer White averaged 7 with the bat and 189 with the ball - they know he does not know where his off stump is, and all the runs in the world off Ajit Agarkar and friends won't make a blind bit of difference.

If White is finished as an allrounder, Flintoff is only just beginning, and looks more and more the real thing every time he plays. On a benign surface, he bullied the batsmen with a fierce, muscular hostility, and drew more than a few beads of sweat from Dravid's otherwise unruffled brow. He gave his old mate Ganguly a few unwelcome clips round the ear as well. But Flintoff's figures (1 for 95) continued an increasingly worrying trend of him not getting his just deserts.

Since returning to the side last winter, Flintoff has taken a wicket every 44 runs, and every 15 overs. That strike-rate puts him below Peter Such, and in David Capel territory. If Flintoff is only as good a bowler as Capel, then David Lloyd's backside is a fire engine. Flintoff bowled superbly at times last winter - his 0 for 80 in the first Test in India was one of Test cricket's better nought-fors - and only a fool would say he has bowled badly against Sri Lanka and India this season. So why is he averaging over 60 for the summer?

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com

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