Taylor century sets up series win

England Lions 282 for 9 (Taylor 111, Stokes 73) beat Sri Lanka A 147 (Kerrigan 3-21, Rankin 2-19) by 135 runs

James Taylor's century and Ben Stokes's fifty set up a series-clinching 135-run victory for England Lions over Sri Lanka A at Northampton.

It was Taylor's second hundred in three games and helped the Lions bounce back emphatically from their 10-wicket drubbing the game before. Taylor and Stokes helped the Lions recover from 38 for 3 to post 282 before the bowlers finished the job in style, skittling Sri Lanka A for 147 with over 20 overs to spare.

It was a captain's innings in the old sense from Taylor, anchoring the recovery at one end while Stokes was more positive from the other. Tharanga Lakshitha had done the early damage taking each of the first three wickets before the fightback started.

The pair added 98 with Stokes reaching his fifty first - from 45 balls - hitting seven fours and three sixes in his 65-ball 73. He fell just past the half-way stage to legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna. Though he had time to score plenty more his contribution would not have gone unnoticed by the England selectors who will be considering their squad for the upcoming India series.

Taylor was more restrained, taking 91 balls to make his half-century but steadily increased his pace as the innings wore on. At one stage - when the Lions slipped to 178 for 6 - it looked as though he may run out of partners but James Harris offered him sound support with 29. It took Taylor just 37 deliveries to go from fifty to his century and by the time he was last man out in the final over, he had struck eight fours and a six in his 111.

283 looked a challenging target and it proved much too difficult for the visitors. The promising four-pronged seam attack, which included Ireland's Boyd Rankin for the first time, shared seven wickets, while Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan took the other three. The chase was as good as done by the third over when Sri Lanka A were reduced to 7 for 3.

Captain Dimuth Karunaratne resisted grimly for 30 from 43 balls in a stand with Sachithra Chaturanga, who made 35. Aside from them, though, wickets kept tumbling. It needed a 38-run ninth-wicket stand to push Sri Lanka A towards 150 but Kerrigan and Woakes finished off the match to give the Lions the series.

Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer at the crossroads

	Yuvraj Singh was the natural successor to India's batting greats, but he isn't even an automatic pick in the Test

As things stand, Indian cricket's acquaintance with the No. 1 status will be a bit like a budget airline's with an airport: land and then a quick turnaround. It must come as no surprise, for those possessed of independent thought and an appreciation of our game have been suggesting that the ascent was unlikely to result in a long reign. And there is a reason rather more different than disdain for the subcontinent or those who inhabit it.

All great teams over the years have been built around outstanding bowling sides; indeed, have represented an excellent bowling generation. West Indies seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of fast bowlers, and Australia, whose best four were probably McGrath, Warne, Gillespie and Lee, had other fine cricketers they could call on: Stuart MacGill, Andy Bichel, Damien Fleming, even Paul Reiffel. For India to stay No. 1 they needed more depth: replacements for the tiring Zaheer Khan, the suddenly inconsistent Harbhajan (not to speak of the large-hearted Anil Kumble). Only Ishant Sharma has seemed to fit the bill, sporadically. New-ball bowlers have come and gone with the frequency of coalition ministers (Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Abhimanyu Mithun, Jaidev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Pankaj Singh, RP Singh for a start), and now even spinners, like grants for the impoverished, are being lost in transit.

Imagine you are a selector and have to make a list of spinners to play for India. You would start with Harbhajan but wouldn't move much past Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin. Maybe you would add Piyush Chawla to that list, though he seems to have acquired stagnancy too. India have sent left-arm spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Bhargav Bhatt to the Emerging Players tournament, and legspinner Rahul Sharma looks a prospect over a 50-over game. Maybe the time has come to blood Ashwin, a fine, thoughtful cricketer who takes his batting seriously but has yet to run through sides. His finest moments have come in 20-over cricket, but fine players of spin bowling like Sanjay Manjrekar and Navjot Sidhu think his time has come. And maybe Ojha needs a comforting arm around the shoulder and lots of bowling in longer games.

But for India to be the best team in Test cricket, there must be a settled bowling line-up, at least some members of which will keep the opposition awake. At the moment, while people may not be queuing up to bat, they aren't exactly quaking in their boots either.

	For India to be the best team in Test cricket, there must be a settled bowling line-up, at least some members of which will keep the opposition awake

India need to be aware, too, that three key players are at the crossroads of their careers. There is a road ahead but it will be paved with extraordinary intent and determination; call it Rahul Dravid Avenue. Zaheer has been an outstanding cricketer for India, as have been Harbhajan and Yuvraj Singh, but this break is a good time for them to think about where they want to be.

Zaheer turns 33 in October, by when he will probably be planting his ankle rather gingerly and waiting to start fitness training. The road from there to becoming one of contemporary cricket's finest bowlers again will be long. The injury will prey on the mind, the pace will drop, and while the mind can remain sharp, his arsenal will deplete. It is not easy to begin afresh at 33, especially if you take the new ball for your country.

Harbhajan is 31 but has been 13 years in international cricket. It has been a stellar career, whatever metrics you use to judge it by. But the future is about incremental results rather than history; for history tells you what you were, while recent results tend to tell you who you are. Recent results have not been flattering for Harbhajan, and while young challengers aren't exactly snapping at his heels, the selectors will be tempted to look elsewhere. Maybe he needs to prioritise, make one form of the game paramount and take what he gets with the rest. All of us face such moments in life but only some can look at the present squarely in the eye.

And surely by now Yuvraj should have been the one holding the baton handed over by Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman. In limited-overs cricket there are few more thrilling players in the game, but Test cricket has yielded relatively unflattering results. So as he heads towards 30, he must make sporting and lifestyle choices. Few tours these days are as demanding as this one in England, so fewer questions will be asked of him, but he must ask himself if he is willing to do what it takes to play 50 Tests, starting now.

Each of the three is accomplished enough to write his own future. But whether they have the unwavering determination we will have to wait and see. India's position in the top three could also depend on that.

Clarke forecasts Sri Lanka success

	"If we keep the same attitude we've had over the last couple of months with our training and our dedication, if we continue on this road I can see us having some succes

Ever the optimist, Australia's new captain Michael Clarke has refused to concede his team may be facing some painful days ahead as he departed for a tour of Sri Lanka, which will be followed by series against South Africa and India.

Australia's Test squad featured a handful of names that were a surprise even to Clarke - he is still to meet the offspin bowler Nathan Lyon - but he reasoned this newness would help foster an attitude of enthusiasm and keenness to work hard in Sri Lanka and beyond.

"I'd like to say no, to be honest. I really hope we can turn things around straight away," Clarke said at Sydney airport when asked if short-term pain should be expected.

"I think it is going to take time for us to work our way back up the rankings, but I'm confident with the talent we have, not only in our squads but around domestic cricket, if we keep the same attitude we've had over the last couple of months with our training and our dedication, if we continue on this road I can see us having some success.

"We're certainly not blinded [to] the fact we've got two of the best teams in the world in their own conditions coming up with Sri Lanka and South Africa, so it's going to be a tough start for us, but it's a good test to see where we're at. If we can have some success against both these teams, playing away from home, I think that'll give us some real confidence for the summer against India."

Lyon was not part of the Australian team training camps in Brisbane that Clarke enthused over, and will meet many of his new team-mates for the first time when he arrives in Colombo later in August. Clarke, however, did not hesitate to suggest that he and the left-arm spinner Michael Beer would be used in tandem on pitches likely to take plenty of turn.

"I think we have a good combination, a left-arm orthodox and a right arm finger spinner, which is good to have two different spinners, as a bowling partnership in tandem I think that can really work well together," Clarke said. "I haven't seen much of Nathan Lyon, he's had a great tour to Zimbabwe with the Australia A team and I've heard some great reports of his bowling over there, so he gets an opportunity to come to Sri Lanka and bowl in what are generally pretty good spinning conditions.

"It's an opportunity, and that's generally how it works, if you don't perform how you'd like as a team, new guys come in and get a chance, and this is what's happened in Nathan's case. He's got an opportunity to grab it with both hands and from all reports I'm pretty confident he'll do that. He's certainly got a lot of talent, now it's about giving him a go and seeing how he handles playing cricket for Australia.

"I'm really confident with the squad we have. I love the fact we've got some new fresh faces that are going to be excited and itching for their opportunity, that's a great thing to have around the group, but the facts are we have to have some success. We have to play good cricket and we have to improve from our recent results in the last Australian summer.

"We need to get better, we know that as players and I can guarantee we're working as hard as ever, as hard as I've ever worked in my career, so hopefully we can turn that around sooner rather than later."

The Don Argus-led review into the performance of the national team is expected to table its findings at Cricket Australia's next board meeting on August 18-19. This is towards the end of the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka and before the Tests, but Clarke was not perturbed by the prospect of recommendations being made public in the middle of a tour.

"It doesn't really bother me to be honest, we knew the review was going to take place," he said. "Whenever the results come from that, that's an opportunity for the players, CA and the ACA [Australian Cricketers Association] to have a look at it and listen to what the experts or the guys have to say and try to implement them. We know what's in front of us and what we have to focus on as players, the rest will take care of itself."

Clarke also dispelled any concerns about his sometimes tender back, which made him retire hurt during a practice match in Brisbane last month. It had previously flared at the outset of the Ashes series.

"It's going really well, it's been again the same as the last 15 years, plenty of physio, plenty of maintenance," said Clarke. "I feel pretty fit and strong at the moment, so I'm actually looking forward to getting out onto the park, I'm sick of training and I'm keen to start playing again."

England's batsmen flatten India on 417-run day

England 221 and 441 for 6 (Bell 159, Pietersen 63, Morgan 70, Prior 64*) lead India 288 by 374 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Ian Bell mastered the Indian attack but was also at the centre of a controversy at tea

For two days, the swinging and seaming ball dominated the bat at Trent Bridge, and eleven wickets fell. On the third, the trend was reversed, emphatically. Faced with adversity - England trailed by 43 at the start and lost Andrew Strauss with the deficit still 10 - Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen played memorable counterattacking innings, batting with the confidence of champions during a 162-run partnership plundered at 4.47 runs per over. Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior then converted England's lead from healthy to practically unassailable with aggressive half-centuries, capitalising on wayward bowling, ragged fielding and listless captaincy. At stumps England led by 374 with four wickets in hand, having scored 417 runs in the day, and India's chances of winning or saving the match were slim. England's cricket was simply superior to India's, before and after the flashpoint that caused chaos minutes before tea.

England's lead was 187 with seven wickets in hand, when Bell, batting on 137 with the mastery of Yoda, made a rookie's assumption that ended his innings, temporarily. Morgan flicked the last ball before tea towards the square-leg boundary, where Praveen Kumar dived to try to save it. And he did, though he didn't think he had. Praveen then took his time to get up and throw the ball towards the wicketkeeper's end, by which time Bell had gone to the non-striker's end, jogging at first and then walking, either because he thought it was a boundary or that tea had been called. The throw reached Abhinav Mukund and he took off the bails, after which the umpire called over and handed Ishant Sharma his sweater. India had appealed for a run-out, though, and after a long delay, while the decision was referred to the third umpire, Bell was given out.

The Indian team was greeted with boos from the Nottingham crowd as play resumed after tea. But suddenly Bell walked out to bat and there were cheers. During the tea interval England's captain and coach, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, had asked Dhoni if he was willing to withdraw the appeal. India had been within their rights to appeal for the run-out, and Bell was out according to the laws, but Dhoni agreed to let Bell resume his innings.

Bell added only 22 runs after the drama before he edged Yuvraj Singh to slip. During that time, though, Morgan took charge, finding the boundary frequently during a 104-run partnership. India's flagging intensity in the field plunged further. While most were still debating the run-out that wasn't, Morgan raced past fifty, off 62 balls, with a straight six off Harbhajan Singh.

The second new-ball gave India false hope as Morgan and the injured Jonathan Trott fell in successive overs from Praveen. Prior and Tim Bresnan, however, added an unbeaten 102 runs for the seventh wicket at 5.56 runs an over. Their hitting boundaries at will turned the contest into a bout between a boxer in his prime and an opponent unable to defend himself. England had scored 187 runs in the final session. Whether the Bell incident affected India's psyche after tea or not, there was a drastic decline in their performance. In the 90 overs England batted today, they hit 52 fours and two sixes.

The platform for England's dominance, however, had been laid well before tea. A combination of sunshine and the use of the heavy roller meant that batting conditions were as good as they had ever been over the previous two days. And Bell, batting at No. 3 because of the shoulder injury to Trott, thrived in them. His shot selection and placement were precise, his timing faultless.

Bell had a strike-rate of over 70 against every specialist Indian bowler, an indication that no one troubled him. He cut when there was width, drove straight when the length was fuller and flicked and glanced when the line was too straight. And there were plenty of opportunities to do so. The scoring was all around the wicket and India were powerless to prevent the glut of boundaries. By lunch, he had scored 84 out of England's 130, and built a lead of 63 in Pietersen's company. Unlike Bell, though, Pietersen had not been fluent before lunch.

On the previous two days, there was a wicket in the first over after lunch. Today, there was a four from Bell. And then Pietersen found his fluency, driving Ishant on the up to the straight boundary, and switched into formidable mode. He attacked Ishant again, moving inside the line to glance, pulling with power and driving fiercely to long-on in the same over.

The ensuing passage of play was a blur of boundaries: Bell guiding wide balls to third man and Pietersen glancing towards fine leg. Bell got to his century off 129 balls, England reached 200 in 52.1 overs. India had some respite when, against the run of play, Sreesanth found Pietersen's edge, after which he bowed to the crowd, who had been giving him a hard time. Morgan, however, didn't fall cheaply this time and began a partnership with Bell. And then the drama began.

England question Hot Spot accuracy

	England were unimpressed when a review against VVS Laxman was turned down

In a series where a half-baked DRS is being used after Hawk-Eye was made optional, England are unconvinced by the Hot Spot technology after they were sure VVS Laxman had edged a delivery but the third umpire couldn't overturn the decision.

England were trying to force any early wicket on the second morning when James Anderson and the slips were convinced Laxman had got a thin edge which led to Andrew Strauss calling for a review. However, the Hot Spot camera didn't show any white mark on the bat and despite the third umpire, Billy Bowden, saying he could hear a sound there wasn't enough evidence for him to suggest to Asad Rauf that he should change his call.

It led to a small confrontation between Laxman and Kevin Pietersen, but while that was soon nipped in the bud Broad admitted the players are beginning to have reservations about the part of DRS that is now the mandatory requirement.

"All of our players thought that was quite a clear edge and Hot Spot hasn't really shown up the faint edges which is a bit of a flaw I think," he said. "There was a question of what it hit and the answer wasn't what KP thought it was."

There is a suggestion that using vaseline on the edge of a bat makes it difficult for the Hot Spot cameras to detect an edge, but Broad confirmed for himself that Laxman had used nothing on his equipment. "I actually had a cheeky feel of his edge when the ball went past, but there's no vaseline or anything on there," he admitted. "I think it's just Hot Spot, we've found the really faint edges don't show up. It's just one of those things."

The DRS can only be used for catches in this series after an agreement between the teams that it wouldn't be implemented for any element of lbws following the ruling at the ICC meetings in Hong Kong last month to make ball-tracking optional. India are very sceptical of the accuracy of the Hawk-Eye technology, but England have always said they would prefer the full system to be used.

They have experienced both sides of the current set-up during this Test. In the first innings Alastair Cook was lbw to a delivery passing over the stumps but on the second day they benefited from the lack of reviews when Harbhajan Singh, the middle victim of Broad's hat-trick, was given leg before despite a big inside edge. In the previous Test at Lord's, Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina survived lbw shouts that would have been overturned with the full DRS. Overall, though, the standard of on-field umpiring in the two Tests has been outstanding.

Although the potential flashpoint at Laxman's survival didn't escalate there was an England player who found himself in trouble. Graeme Swann was reprimanded by the ICC after kicking off the bails in frustrating at the end of his 12th and final over during a tough day with the ball where he conceded 76 runs.

Swann is the second player to be pulled up by the ICC on the opening two days of this match after Praveen Kumar was fined 20% of his match fee on Friday, following an outburst at Marais Erasmus, when an lbw appeal against Pietersen which was turned down.

Praveen fined for arguing with umpire

	Praveen Kumar has been docked 20% of his match fee

Praveen Kumar, the India seamer, has been fined 20% of his match fee for arguing with umpire Marais Erasmus over an unsuccessful lbw appeal on the first day at Trent Bridge. Praveen pleaded guilty to the charge of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct.

The incident occurred in the 18th over of the day, during which Praveen appealed for a leg before against Kevin Pietersen. Erasmus turned it down. Praveen was disappointed by the decision and argued with Erasmus before being ushered away by Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina.

Pietersen had been struck in line and, though he had made a big stride forward, replays suggested the ball would have clipped the bails. The absence of DRS for lbws during this series, at India's insistence, denied Praveen a chance of a referral.

Praveen was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the Code of Conduct, which relates to "arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the umpire about his decision." Praveen admitted to the breach and accepted the fine imposed by match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

Praveen bounced back later and bowled an outstanding spell of 6-4-7-2. He removed Andrew Strauss, for 32, and Eoin Morgan in the space of three deliveries. He could have had Ian Bell's wicket had Rahul Dravid not spilled an easy chance at first slip. Earlier in the day, MS Dhoni had given the new ball to Praveen on an overcast morning despite Sreesanth being in the side in place of Zaheer Khan. Praveen swung the new ball both ways and made use of the two-paced pitch with the old ball. He dismissed Graeme Swann with a ball that reared from a length and smashed the glove before lobbing to gully.

In his short Test career, Praveen has had several run-ins with umpires. Billy Bowden warned him at Lord's for running on the danger area of the pitch. Praveen had been removed from the attack for a similar offence in the first Test in the West Indies after two warnings from Daryl Harper.

Test players picked from anywhere, White believes

	"It seems as though the door is open for everyone in first-class cricket, one day cricket, and Twenty20 cricket to play Test cricket, if that makes any sense"

Cameron White, the Australian Twenty20 captain, says the rapid promotion of Nathan Lyon to tour Sri Lanka next month suggests the national selectors are employing an open door policy for the Test side, irrespective of the format a player makes his name in.

Lyon's selection, having played only four first-class matches and a handful of T20 and limited overs matches for South Australia last summer, has illustrated how far the national panel is prepared to look in its pursuit of "champion" players.

White certainly sounded bemused when questioned on what Lyon's selection, alongside Michael Beer and Trent Copeland, signified for the rest of Australia's cricketers.

He concluded that it now meant that a player could be plucked from T20s to play Tests or Sheffield Shield cricket to play T20, as talent identifiers ceased to discriminate between formats and disciplines.

"Very interesting question. It is a tough one for me to answer," White told reporters in Brisbane before the T20 squad flew out for Sri Lanka. "I guess if you are in the right place at the right time you can be picked.

"If you are in form and the selectors view that you are the right man for the job they can pick you. It seems as though the door is open for everyone in first-class cricket, one day cricket, and Twenty20 cricket to play Test cricket, if that makes any sense."

Both Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, and Greg Chappell, the national talent manager and selector, have stated that their present policy is to cast around widely in the hope that certain players will show immediate signs of becoming top class performers. It is an approach laced with risk and uncertainty, and far removed from that employed by the national panel when Australia was last struggling so markedly in the mid-1980s.

At that time the selectors identified a group of players with talent to support the captaincy of Allan Border, and largely stuck by them until results began to improve. The likes of Steve Waugh, Dean Jones, Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh, David Boon and Craig McDermott emerged as the nucleus of a strong Australian side, that later became great when younger talent was introduced to a stable dressing room.

"We're picking the best team for Australia," Hilditch said when announcing the Test squad in Adelaide. "But we need some experienced players, which we think we have got, and we also need to find a couple of new champions in the next couple of years."

Australia's coach, Tim Nielsen, is not a selector, but he defended the scatter-gun ways of the panel, which is under heavy scrutiny as part of the Don Argus-led Australian team performance review. The review is due to table its findings to the Cricket Australia board at its next meeting on August 18-19.

"We are obviously looking for the spinner who can take us forward in all three forms of the game," Nielsen said. "To be honest no-one has taken their opportunity and made it their own yet. No-one has made their spot their own. And that is why we see some fluctuations in who is selected.

"Because whether it be through injury or performance we haven't seen one spinner really take the job on. Lyon and Beer now have the opportunity to stake their claim.

Nielsen did not see anything inconsistent about the rapid distribution of baggy green caps, particularly to spin bowlers. Twelve have now been elevated to the Australian Test squad since Shane Warne retired in 2007.

"We have come off a summer where we didn't have the success we would have liked," he said. "And it's pretty obvious we are searching for the mix of players we think will take us forward.

"We have seen a couple of players who are perceived to have jumped the queue because they have performed well when given the opportunity, and I think that is the way it has always been. If you are given a chance at domestic or Australia A level and do well the selectors will reward that."

Nielsen's role is also being analysed closely by the review, and his support staff has been significantly altered by the additions of Steve Rixon as fielding coach and Craig McDermott as pace bowling coach. The players have enjoyed the presence of more mentors with Test match experience, something Nielsen himself cannot call upon.

Rixon was appointed at the insistence of the new captain Michael Clarke, and Nielsen said the team now bore the stamp of the new leader.

"Michael's very clear on how he feels the team should be playing and the things he feels are important for the team to be playing that way," he told AAP. "We've got some new staff around the place, a new captain, a new vice-captain so all of those things lead to a different voice and a different idea.

"It's been really positive so far, I've really enjoyed working with those guys. I'm sure in the next little while, even if it doesn't transfer into wins straight out of the blocks, we're hopeful the new cricketers we've got in the team and the different direction we're taking will lead us back to the levels we want to be playing at and the standing we want in world cricket."

The Australian T20 squad departs on Saturday for two matches on August 6 and 8, with limited overs and Test series to follow.

England v India, 2nd npower Test, Trent Bridge

Long odds for injury-hit India

Match facts

July 29- August 2, Trent Bridge
Start time 1100 (1000 GMT, 1530 IST)

	Is it time to replace a below-par Harbhajan Singh? © AFP

Big Picture

England's comprehensive victory at Lord's, with a performance hailed by their captain as "outstanding", has put them one step closer to the much-desired No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. Some are already proclaiming them the best team in the world, irrespective of what the rankings say. Others suggest they aren't yet, and that judgment should be withheld until later in the series, given India's remarkable knack of bouncing back after defeats in series-openers.

An injury-hit India presents England with a great opportunity to settle the debate. MS Dhoni's side is crippled by the loss of arguably their most influential player, Zaheer Khan, due to a hamstring problem.

What will make it worse is if Gautam Gambhir, who is still recovering from a blow to the elbow he took in the first Test, joins the injury list. While India at least have a couple of back-up quick bowlers to choose from to replace Zaheer, Gambhir's absence could end up upsetting the batting configuration. One of three makeshift openers will have to be employed - Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid or Wriddhiman Saha - and the experienced middle order, India's biggest strength, could be exposed early to the swinging ball.

England start as favourites in Trent Bridge, but as India have repeatedly shown, they are a surprisingly resilient side, regularly managing to circumvent problems caused by their relatively weak bowling line-up. Can they do it once again?

Form guide (most recent first)

England WDDWW
India LDDWD

In the spotlight

Harbhajan Singh's place in the XI has rarely come under the scanner, especially after his ascension to the lead spinner's role after the retirement of Anil Kumble nearly three years ago. Now, though, questions are being asked after a run-of-the-mill performance in the Caribbean was followed up with a 1 for 218 at Lord's. While the track for the first Test didn't offer much for the spinners, Harbhajan's inability to keep the runs down hurt a Zaheer-less India. He needs three more caps to complete 100 Tests, a milestone he may not reach in this series unless he turns his form around.

At Trent Bridge four years ago, Matt Prior's career hit one of its lows when he faced a barrage of criticism for the infamous jelly bean saga. Now he returns to the venue acclaimed by some as the best Test wicketkeeper-batsman in the world. With four centuries in the past year and an average that has soared to the mid-forties, Prior has made quite a convincing case.

Team news

The most settled side in world cricket, England's only concern is the hamstring problem that is troubling their tall fast bowler Chris Tremlett. Andrew Strauss is confident Tremlett will be fit to play but even if he isn't, there's a ready replacement in Tim Bresnan. The rest of the XI are certain picks.

England 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Chris Tremlett/Tim Bresnan, 11 James Anderson

India have more to ponder. The good news for Indian fans is Sachin Tendulkar has recovered from the viral fever that troubled him in the first Test. The bad news is that Zaheer is out and Gambhir could join him on the sidelines. Sreesanth is likely to get his first Test since Cape Town six months ago, and Yuvraj Singh could get yet another shot at reviving his Test career.

India 1 Abhinav Mukund, 2 Gautam Gambhir/Yuvraj Singh, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Sreesanth

Pitch and conditions

This is a ground that is famous for its swing, and teams have struggled to score big in recent years. India's phalanx of experienced batsmen can expect a thorough workout against an on-song England pace attack.

The clouds are expected to stay away this week, with warm and dry weather forecast.

Stats and trivia

• Trent Bridge has been one of the most challenging Test venues for batsmen since 2005, with only Sabina Park having a lower runs-per-wicket ratio.
• James Anderson has an outstanding record at Trent Bridge, bagging 28 wickets at 15.89 in four Tests
• In this match, Tendulkar will become the first man to play 100 away Tests. The next person on the list is Rahul Dravid with 87 overseas Test

Quotes

"We don't want to look at the negatives, we want to look at the positives, this will give a chance for someone to become a hero."
MS Dhoni makes light of the injuries to key India players

"If we can make it 2-0 here this week we are in a brilliant position to win the series. We aren't looking at Edgbaston or The Oval."
Andrew Strauss is focusing on the here and now