All The World's A Stage ...

On a stage set for Shakespeare, Chekhov was the star.

India avoided the follow-on and have probably saved this Test match with only two days left to play but given the summer form of the English bowlers anything is still possible. However, it was Rahul Dravid who was the star of their disappointing innings, with a typically upright, steady innings, full of his usual dedication to defence but on a better pitch than any thrown up in the West Indies, he was also happy to play shots. On a day when Broad finally decided to bowl in the batsmen's half, he drove superbly, mostly through cover and cover point but also one glorious bullet past mid on from Tremlett. The battle with Swann, an important challenge in any series against England, was met with a bat and pad wall but the slightest sign of shortness unleashed laser-guided cuts. Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice. 

It was a day of Test cricket which reminded us again that no one player is bigger than the game. That disease of wrong thinking was bought to the game eighty years ago and has plagued it in the modern era. The subject of the cricket world's desire to succeed on this given moment was Sachin Tendulkar, who above all else he has achieved with the blade, has always been a team man first to last. History, it seems, will leave him with a shallow grave at Lords, his sublime 34 being three short of his best at the ground. Irony, thy name is cricket. Still, whilst at the wicket, the run getting with Dravid was how it should be, written or performed ... a rose by any other name should smell as sweet. Their partnership was the only time India were in complete control.

Stuart Broad, so often feeling the need to impose his height to counter his looks, instead bowled at his best today, with controlled outswing and a cool head. The Australians have seen him bowl with brains and paid the price and his first three wickets were the most important deposits for the Bank of England. After Jimmy Anderson and Chris Tremlett made little impression on the openers, Broad came on and had rattled the castles of both openers in a few overs: Gambhir through a nice gap between bat and pad and Mukund through a lack of discipline outside off stump. 81 delicious runs later and after delving into the bumper bag for one more boring time, he got Tendulkar with a full ball, moving away late and Swann took a good catch low and in front of him at second slip. Man is what he believes.

Still perfection is hard to obtain, even on a day when the wind blows in your hair. Laxman and Dravid were both dropped in the one Broad over. The offenders, Strauss and Swann, are normally their two most reliable. Broad would have had the first five wickets. Its the game which is great, not her players. A long farewell to all my greatness; it is a ripening, nips the root and then he falls as I do.

Tremlett, ah, every inch a king, then returned to cut a swathe through the Indian middle order and there in lies the secret of English success in the past two years. They now have a bowling attack which works in partnerships and has no weaknesses. That Yorkshireman Bresnan, left out for Lords, is no less a member. It's only when Finn plays that chinks appear. Laxman gave his wicket away, flicking a ball off his leg stump which he should have controlled through any gap on the leg side but instead put done Trott's throat behind square leg and Swann pushed one through at the left handed Raina, who played back into lbw peril. Dhoni batted until the new ball, adding 57 with Dravid but the English pace attack finished it off with the last five wickets falling in 15 overs. Had it not been for Praveen Kumar's brief but effective buckling of the swash, India would have faced an awkward follow on with England having bowled less than 100 overs in comfortable conditions.

Strauss and Cook did nothing but survive the five overs until stumps. These English Lions continue to raise their roar.