Lord's Test, Day 4
Sunday, July 28, 2002

Well, that was a pretty good day, to be honest. Everything went according to plan really – the wicket hasn't deteriorated as much as we'd have liked, and it didn't do a great deal after the new ball, so we had to work hard for wickets. We'll have to be on our guard tomorrow, not just expect to turn up and take four wickets. You don't just roll over this Indian team for 200 twice, they've got too many talented players.

It's a bit disappointing not to have wrapped the game up today, but that's why it's Test cricket, it usually goes five days. I think Rudi Koertzen was going to offer us the extra half-hour if we'd got another wicket – seven down – but he wasn't going to do it for six. In any case the bowlers were very tired ... it was so hot out there. I think we possibly slackened off a bit in the last half-hour anyway, but that's not too surprising given the heat.

Overall the boys are as tired as I've known them. It's been hot all the way through, and everyone's worked hard – all the batsmen have batted twice, and then we've bowled twice. It's been one of the most tiring games I've been involved in.

The bowlers stuck at it well, we kept our discipline throughout. I had to give them short spells, but Hoggard came back well, and it's nice to have someone like Simon Jones up your sleeve to roar in and bowl fast.

It was a bit disappointing to drop that catch off Sehwag, but then I don't often field at slip to the quicker bowlers for Essex, let alone England. I prefer to be at mid-off chatting to the bowler when the fast men are on. But with Trescothick out injured we needed someone to go in there. It was at an awkward height away to my right, but I should have caught it. Freddie gave me a bit of a smile and said hard luck. I'd have been pretty upset if he had gone on and scored 200 though ...

We're supposed to have all sorts of extra security and stuff these days so I thought that bloke getting onto the pitch and walking off with Tendulkar was terrible. Someone should have run on quickly and got him off, not waited for him to stroll into the pavilion. I know a lot of people who wouldn't have behaved quite as well as Sachin did with all that going on. I'm glad to hear he's been arrested – he shouldn't have gone on the pitch in the first place, and it's a disgrace he was allowed to get as far as he did.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Steven Lynch. His thoughts will appear on Wisden.com, other duties permitting, at the end of each day of England's international cricket this summer.

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