The follow-on used to be the holy grail of Test cricket. When Kapil Dev launched Eddie Hemmings for four consecutive sixes in the 1990 Lord's Test, he was not merely indulging in a display of machismo; he was taking the route one approach to his side's only genuine hope of saving the match. That his partner, the No. 11 Narendra Hirwani, fell to the very next ball he faced, only proved the wisdom of Kapil's tactics. Twelve years on, and once again India were on the verge of the follow-on in a Lord's Test. This time however, it was not the swing of Kapil's bat that had England coming out to bat again, but the shake of Nasser Hussain's head. It is conceivable that the spectre of Calcutta loomed large in Hussain's thoughts, although as Tuesday's awards ceremony would suggest, VVS Laxman's 281 against Australia really was a once-in-a-century achievement.

Hussain, though, has never worried too much about the gameplan of his opponents – it's how his own men shape up that matters to him. And on a flat and unthreatening wicket, in baking sunshine and without the services of three of his frontline fast bowlers, they shaped up extraordinarily well. Dismissing a batting line-up of India's calibre for 221 was a remarkable achievement – and as Michael Vaughan and John Crawley extended the advantage into the evening, it was only fair that the bowlers should put their feet up and reflect on a job well done.

What is it about Hussain's captaincy – and his team's response – when the chips are down? He pulled off a stunning victory in his last Test, against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford, despite losing Andrew Caddick to a side strain, and his tactics during the tour of India – while not to everyone's taste – came within a rainstorm of paying dividends during the third Test, the last encounter between these teams.

That match at Bangalore, more than any, will be foremost in Hussain's thoughts at the moment – and it is essentially the same attack that have delivered the goods both times. On that occasion, replying to England's first-innings total of 336, India were ground down by Ashley Giles' leg-stump line, and the unwavering discipline of Matthew Hoggard, Craig White and Andrew Flintoff. The only difference is that England have substituted a spinner who did not bowl in the innings (Richard Dawson, remember him?), for a tearaway fast bowler who most certainly did.

Bustling in on a wicket that palpably did not suit him, Simon Jones had another day to remember. He could have dismissed Sachin Tendulkar on two occasions, hurrying him into a chopped defensive stroke that hopped over the stumps, before finding a genuine outside edge that more or less carried to Graham Thorpe.

But he soon had his rewards, and it was apt that his maiden Test wicket should come from the shortest, highest and widest ball that he had bowled all day. Such was the stranglehold that his team-mates imposed, that Jones was able to tear in and bowl as fast and as furiously as he liked. And, thanks to Hussain's decision to bat on, on a pitch that is starting to show some signs of uneven bounce, his loose cannonballs could explode like grenades second-time around.

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com

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