England on brink of being world’s best cricket team

After watching their team whitewash India at Lord's yesterday, England cricket fans will be waking up this morning to a very unusual realisation: Andrew Strauss's men are on the brink of becoming the world's number one Test side.
 
England now have a 1-0 lead in the four-match series against India, the team currently occupying top spot. If, in three matches time, England have won two more Tests than India, they will officially be top of the world rankings. On yesterday's form, you wouldn't bet against them.
 
The day started with India on 80-1, still theoretically chasing a 458-run target, but it was not long before it became a game of survival for Mahendra Dhoni's men. Leading England's hunt for wickets was James Anderson, whose masterful swing bowling saw him end with figures of 5 for 65.
 
The Guardian's Mike Selvey was ebullient with the Lancashire lad's performance. "This was to be the day on which Jimmy Anderson, surely the world's leading swing bowler, rose to the challenge," he wrote.
 
Claiming the wickets of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar – "single-handedly removing what many believe to be one of the most powerful middle orders the game has seen since the West Indies' vaunted Three Ws," as Selvey put it – Anderson put victory in England's reach before Stuart Broad finished off the tail end.
 
What made the team's bowling display so impressive – "close to perfect", in Strauss's words – was that India's wickets fell not all at once, in some sudden freakish spell, but slowly as a result of consistent pressure. England's four bowlers – Anderson, Broad, Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann – hunted for wickets in a pack, continually ratcheting up the pressure to force India's eventual mistakes.
 
Before yesterday's dazzling bowling display, it was Kevin Pietersen double-century in the first innings that really set up England's victory. "That was one of the greatest innings I've seen," said Strauss after KP had been named man of the match. "He had to wait for the runs to come and he showed his class and his temperament as well."
 
So, England now go to Trent Bridge for the second Test with their heads held high, knowing they have a real chance of becoming the world's number one side. Can they really win the series with a two-game margin?
 
The Telegraph's Steve James certainly thinks so. "I said on Sunday that it would be a 2-1 series victory for England. But that was with a draw here," he writes. "It looks like 3-1 to me right now, especially if Zaheer [Khan] is missing for more than one Test. I certainly can't see a draw in the remaining Tests." ·