hi

Alan & Jon, yes England have played well in the past two or three series. Their success is welcome but does have to be tempered by the quality of the opposition to some extent.

Australia has been the top nation for many years ( with the occasional times when England have managed to win the Ashes ). Recently however they have been in decline and India, always a difficult team to beat in their own country have taken over the top spot from Oz.

Now it appears barring a miracle England will be top. It is not England's fault that the opposition is not of the highest quality. They can only beat what is put out against them. On paper India still has a high quality team that for a number of reasons has not played well on this visit.

I believe in sport that you can only play as well as the opposition allows you to and in fairness England has come out on top through patient, intelligent and doggedness against a technically more talented side - especially in batting.

We have not really seen any fight from the India team. The appear to be unable to deal with the pressure when England start to get on top. No doubt there will be many enquiries in the media, but the answer is that in the past few series England have beaten the best sides available at the time. For this they deserve the accolade of being recognised as the No 1 Team in the World.

Like Alan I have lived through a truly chequer-board career of England performance , especially since the 1940's.

Let's wallow in their success - it might be only temporary.

Cheers

Mike

ps Spare a thought for poor Sewag who was brought in to bolster the India early batting line-up. He lasted just one ball in each innings !! Yes a "King Pair". Very rare and one has to sympathise with him.