England had done a lot in their five meetings with India before today, but they hadn't actually won a match. And only for an hour on Saturday night, when Marcus Trescothick was blazing away like a log fire, had they even looked like winning. Today they needed a win, badly, to keep the series alight, and to convince themselves that they could do it. Moral victories are all very well, but real ones are better. Even if they are a bit scrappy. England did less to win the match than India did to lose it. Just like England on Saturday, India allowed one moment of outrageous fortune - Tendulkar's run-out - to turn into a collapse. And they couldn't plead inexperience. All England had to do in the middle overs was decent ground-fielding, which is what they do best.

But the progress that Nasser Hussain is always talking about was definitely there. Three individuals took a big step forward today. Michael Vaughan found his feet for the first time in pyjamas. Classical and correct, Vaughan always looks as if he would rather be wearing whites. But so does Damien Martyn, and he has just transformed Australia's fortunes in a one-day series. There is a place in the instant game for the man who prefers to ease the ball past extra cover - especially if he can sweep as well, which Vaughan did today. For once, Graham Thorpe wasn't missed.

Paul Collingwood played even better, seeing England through to the psychologically important 250. He had done well in Zimbabwe, but that was a home from home for him - the Durham of the south. India is a far stiffer test, and he passed it today, holding the innings together by keeping calm and working the ball all round the wicket. Simple, but effective.

Andrew Flintoff's tour just keeps going in the same direction: up with his bowling, down with his batting. All the qualities missing from his batting - consistency, canniness, control - are increasingly evident in his bowling. He had to bowl at Tendulkar quite a bit today, and still went for only nine from his first five overs. Taken off when he perhaps shouldn't have been, he then returned and got a wicket first ball, and could well have had another in the same over.

It might help his batting if he was in a more suitable place in the order. He and Ben Hollioake make an unconvincing No. 6 and 7 - a pair of millionaires who need a nurdler or two between them. Bevan and Harvey they are not. One of them should be in the top four.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd