Trott and Cook apart, the batting lineup (even as far down as Anderson) seemed to have all contracted KP's arrogance and belief that nobody is good enough to bowl at them without getting hit out of the park.

It's the same arrogance with which Viv Richards used to approach his batting, Difference was, Richards was too good for most bowlers. Strauss, KP and Bell may be a lot of things, but Viv Richards clones isn't one of them.

After the shambles of England there's good news for everybody as Lancashire has started the season with a win against MCC

should be a question mark against the rest of the top order except the two you mention, what was the stat in terms of how long Strauss has gone since a test ton? 50 something innings? Turning into Brearley like Vaughan did before him.

Is cricket the ultimate sport where home advantage truly is an advantage??

The supposed best team in the world have ventured into foreign climates and been given a hiding FOUR times....Similarly, the previous number one side in the world, brought their title over to England, only to similarly be embarrassed four times.

I'm not making excuses for these recent abysmal displays by both England and India, but I think it does show that the difference between truly great sides (of which there have been only two in my 30 odd years watching cricket) and merely good sides, is the ability to transfer your talents to any situation, in any conditions.

The West Indies sides of the 70's and 80's, along with the recent Aussie sides, both had real talent AND an inner steel which saw them through tough times in tough surroundings.....None of the sides around today have anything like it - The ranking system is no indicator of a team's true abilities.

I'd say the only flaw with the current England side is the ability of the top order to play anything remotely approaching decent quality spin bowling. The problem is that when you tour the sub-continent, that's what you're going to have to deal with and as flaws go, it's a potentially fatal one in that environment.

The bowling attack has proved itself capable in all conditions of dismissing sides twice for relatively low scores. They're predominantly a decent outfit in the field and in "English" conditions of decent batting wickets with a bit of pace and bounce the batting can rack up enough runs to win a game.

It's England v Mahela again....

Strauss' determination to defend when the opposition are 30/3 astounds me. For all the batting frailties, there have also been a few too many occaisions when we've let opponents off the hook when fielding.

Absolutely. New batsman, spinners on.... Stick someone right under his nose, not offer an easy one to get off strike.

Ah, Bresnan. If he's available, he has to play.

Mahela > England. Again.

Very, very even. If everyone's left the sweep shot in Galle, that is...