A final at Lord's is something that can never be taken for granted, and after a week of going through the motions, England and India's encounter on Saturday promises to be quite an occasion. The weather is set fair and the teams are full of runs, with Marcus Trescothick and Sachin Tendulkar in particularly fine form. And yet, it would be stretching a point to suggest that the winners of the 2002 NatWest Series are in a fit state to challenge for the World Cup in South Africa next March. This tournament has not been the battle of the basement that West Indies, Zimbabwe and a substandard England played out in 2000, nor the grotesque mismatch of 2001, when Australia and Pakistan ruled the roost. It lies somewhere in between – England, India and Sri Lanka are three worthy teams with great expectations and even greater Achilles heels. Sri Lanka will improve when their one-man attack recovers from his shoulder injury, but England and India's workrates have been impressive at times, particularly when chasing improbable targets. If the teams have learnt anything from the recent football World Cup, it is how perspiration can overcome pedigree. Yet 90 minutes of hard graft in a one-day match will barely cover the first twenty overs of an innings. Saturday's winners will be the team who keep their shape for longest.

India have a famously woeful record in one-day finals, with nine defeats in a row dating back to 1998-99. But England's is none too special either (just five wins in 16 attempts), and though they have bucked the trend in recent times, the Lord's factor tends not to lift them as much as it does visiting sides. As an added incentive, India have not contested a one-day final at Lord's since they swiped the World Cup from under the West Indians' noses in 1983 – arguably their finest hour. The class of 2002 would do well to emulate their predecessors.

The scheduling has not favoured the Indians. England have had a three-day gap between matches, while India are not-so-fresh from a meaningless day-night encounter with Sri Lanka on Thursday. Nevertheless, England would argue it is an occupational hazard of touring sides. As South Africa and New Zealand would testify, Australia are none too hospitable either when laying out their VB Series fixtures.

Thursday's match did, however, provide further evidence of Tendulkar's importance at No.4. Just as Sri Lanka's team ethic suffers when Muttiah Muralitharan is relied on to bowl 123 overs in a match, so India – by far the strongest batting line-up in the competition, Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff notwithstanding – are less than the sum of their parts when Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh are pushed out of the limelight.

Sehwag, in particular, has exploded the myth, by launching India's innings with all the gusto of a 1996-vintage Tendulkar. Certainly, he has been helped by the sort of wayward new-ball bowling that Australia and Pakistan will not be serving up come the World Cup, but it is India themselves who have the most problems in that department.

Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar have impressed with their accuracy at the death, but with the new ball they should be meat and drink to Trescothick, and a welcome succour to Nick Knight, who has been starved of runs in this series, but was beginning to hit his way back into form in England's last group match at The Oval.

With the floating menace of Flintoff, and the unexpected versatility of Ronnie Irani, England have a batting line-up to deal with all eventualities, though they must beware of too much tinkering with the order. Their bowling too, has depth and breadth, with Irani again – in harness with the helmeted Alec Stewart – to anchor the opposition to the crease in the middle overs, and the likes of Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood to provide a touch of variety where necessary.

But England, as ever, must watch out for Tendulkar. It was he, with 124 not out against Zimbabwe at Sharjah, who won India's last one-day title in 1998-99. Since then he has contributed more ducks than half-centuries to India's run of defeats. He will feel the time is nigh for another big one.

Teams (probable)

England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Nick Knight, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Ronnie Irani, 5 Michael Vaughan, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Alec Stewart (wk), 8 Paul Collingwood, 9 Jeremy Snape or Dominic Cork, 10 Alex Tudor, 11 Darren Gough

India 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 3 Dinesh Mongia, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Vuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Ajit Agarkar, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com

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