By the seismic standards of England's usual batting collapses, it would not normally trouble the Richter scale. But when Andrew Flintoff and Nasser Hussain fell in quick succession shortly before lunch, and England juddered from 356 for 5 to 357 for 7, there was genuine cause for concern among the camp followers. The second day was a bitty affair, though none the less enthralling for that. After Alec Stewart had shocked a nation by failing to mark his big occasion with a century, Flintoff and Hussain looked to be batting for fun. But then they both fished at wide deliveries, Ajit Agarkar found himself one ball from the unlikeliest of hat-tricks, and England's day was on the verge of turning sour. If, on a similarly benign Lord's pitch, 325 had not been enough to put India's batsmen out of the reckoning in the NatWest final, what hope 370-odd with 10 sessions of the match remaining, and Virender Sehwag providing an itchy trigger at the top of their order?

Step forward, Simon Jones. Other than his lust for pure speed, Jones could hardly be described as a like-for-like replacement for the kneecapped Darren Gough. But in terms of jumping into the pool and making as big a splash as he could, the pair are soulmates. As with his later bowling efforts, which come from the Jeff Thomson school of shuffling up and going "whang!", Jones's gleeful slogging had none of the brash followthrough of the early Gough. Instead he used a languid but undeniably potent jab, none better than his extraordinary defensive prod that looped over cover for four.

Like Gough, whose scores of 65, 42 not out and 51 changed the course of three of his first seven Tests, Jones is unlikely to live up to his early batting exploits. His bowling, however, oozed promise. Within an over he was touching 90mph, and though Sehwag took a liking to him, he will encounter pacier tracks than this before long. Beset by the type of injury crisis that usually only afflicts England in the build-up to an Ashes Test, England's first priority in this game was to get enough runs on the board to avoid defeat. By helping to add 130 runs for the last three wickets, exactly what India have mustered in their reply so far, Jones has more than done his job for the day.

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd