Though England's seamers, by common consent, bowled woefully in the first Test at Lord's, Matthew Hoggard was among the most culpable. At his very best, (and rarely has a swing bowler bettered his 7 for 63 at Christchurch) he has the ability to pick his spot and let the ball do the talking. At his worst, he loses his line and length - and consequently his swing as well - and transforms from big gun to cannon fodder. But in Sri Lanka's second innings at Edgbaston, Hoggard was nearly, but not quite, back to his best. As our graph shows, he pitched an admirable 90% of his deliveries (134 out of 149) on or outside middle-and-off. This figure even exceeds the 81% he achieved at Christchurch - a definite sign that he is back on track.

However, Hoggard's length continues to let him down. He found a good length with half of the second-innings deliveries he sent down (78 out of 149), but almost exactly a quarter (38 out of 149) were short of a length. These were dispatched for 30 of the 81 runs he conceded off the bat.

Consequently, Nasser Hussain had difficulties setting a field to his bowling. The runs he gave away off the bat were split evenly between the off and leg-sides (41 and 40), included 23% (19 out of 81) hoicked through midwicket.

But, Hoggard achieved redemption in the best possible way - by taking crucial wickets at crucial times. The two inswinging yorkers he served up to remove Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara were right out of the top drawer, and he returned on Sunday afternoon with two wickets in three balls with the new ball. He is nearly back to his best.

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com

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