A new world order dawns for Team England

No 1 is not a position England are accustomed to being in, but then few can grudge them for that. Alastair Cook, whose highest individual score of 294 is yet to be reached collectively by India, says that they could be ready to do something really special. It is difficult to match the exploits of the two most dominant teams of the past 30 years — West Indies and Australia — but he could well be right.

Lack of preparation could be a reason for India’s meek capitulation, but the greater reason has been England’s superiority in every department. India had better conditions in the first two Tests by winning the toss and yet England won those games by huge margins. In the third Test, the home side triumphed by the biggest margin after winning the toss.

England’s strength has been their bowling firepower. Their bench strength has been very impressive — they did not have first-choice players in Chris Tremlett and Jonathan Trott and still won comfortably. They may not have too many batsmen waiting in the wings but have quality bowlers like Steven Finn and Graham Onions waiting for their turns.

Then, they have some focussed men in captain Andrew Strauss, coach Andy Flower and batting coach Graham Gooch. None of them are flamboyant but seriously devoted to the game.

“This has been a goal of ours for some time. I don’t know exactly how the rankings work, but to get to No 1, you’ve got to win a lot of matches. It rewards consistency over a long period of time and that has not necessarily been a great strength of English cricket in the past. So, we should be really proud of what we’ve achieved. We have been very close to our best,” Strauss said.

Graeme Swann added, “We set out to be No 1 two-and-a-half years ago and it looked ridiculous, to beat Australia home and away, but this team works very hard. Andy Flower pushes us to the hilt and I know him, he will keep doing so.”

Under Flower, England have won 19 out of 30 Tests and have lost only four. They’ve won eight of the last nine series. They’re not England of old, and their fans, used to hopes belied, are beginning to believe that they actually are world-beaters.

Observers here believe that after the high of 2005, when they won the Ashes after a very long drought, they lost their focus. Angus Fraser thinks they shifted their focus on how they could market themselves.

There is little danger of that happening with the captain and the staff they have now. Strauss himself said that in as many words. “I don’t think this is an end in itself. Just bear in mind there are a number of other teams anxious to have this mantle, to be the No 1 side. So, I think it’s arrogant for us to just waltz our way and assume everything’s going to be hunky-dory all the time,” the captain said.

England’s big test will be the home series against South Africa next summer and away series against India next winter. Sanjay Manjrekar believes they do have a good chance to hang on to it. “England have a better chance than anybody to stay at the top,” he said. “They give Test match cricket more priority than anyone else.” The BCCI, may be, has a few lessons to learn from there.