Ruthless England trample India once again

England's cricketers are on the march to the summit of the sport after another ruthless performance on the first day of the third Test against India at Edgbaston. After skittling India for 224, a score that was something of a triumph for the tourists, who recovered from 111 for seven, England ended the day on 84 without loss.

Once again the much-vaunted Indian batting failed to fire and only a defiant 77 from India's captain MS Dhoni, who came it at number seven, gave the scorecard a hint of respectability.

The returning Virender Sehwag got a golden duck at the top of the order and the mighty Sachin Tendulkar managed only one. Both men fell to Stuart Broad, who took four wickets. Tim Bresnan grabbed the same number and bowled Rahul Dravid with an absolute beauty. James Anderson took the two remaining scalps as England's trio of quickies dismantled the tourists once again.

Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook then made England's bowling exploits look even more impressive by proving that there were actually very few demons in the pitch and safely made it to the close.

England are now firm favourites to win the Test and take a 3-0 series lead. The rubber, that was supposed to be tight and tense affair between the world's best team, India, and the pretenders to their crown, England, is in danger of turning into the kind of walloping that Australia used to dish out in their pomp.

And for England fans used to nailbiting tension and high drama, watching Strauss's clinical side despatch their opponents with with such efficiency time after time is a novel experience.

But according to Michael Atherton in the Times, it is something at people are getting used to. "It all felt a little routine," he commented.

Stranger still is the belief in some quarters that England will be disapointed with their day's work.

Andrew McGlashan at Cricinfo said: "It's a mark of the high standards which England now set that India's eventual total of 224 felt a few too many."

And Martin Samuel in the Mail noted: "You bowl India out for 224, then close in on a century opening partnership, and still feel ever so slightly ticked off. It is a myth that the greatest teams, the kings of the hill, experience good day after good day, their gratification monotonous like California sunshine. What gets them there, and keeps them there, is the restless quest for perfection, a dissatisfaction with anything less than excellence."

That is seems is England's current mindset. ·