Alastair
Cook stole the show at Edgbaston today, giving England fans 294 reasons to
forget a man who might be about to make an extended trip into the shadows.

Essex
team-mate Ravi Bopara was the next man in midway through the evening session on
day two. It was 218 runs and the lion's share of 24 hours later before he got a
chance to get to the crease.

As England
enjoyed a third consecutive day of grinding down - a word Cook himself used to
describe it - their illustrious opponents, Bopara was doubtless steeling himself
for the most important innings of his career. Whenever the cameras cut to

They say that batsmen set up matches, bowlers win them. It was another sterling effort from England's pace attack to skittle India out for a paltry 224 at Edgbaston.

But for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 77 batting with the tail, the tourists would have been all out for a meagre 147, thanks to another hugely impressive performance from Messrs Anderson, Broad, Bresnan and Swann.

Indeed, India were 111 for seven at one stage thanks to the menacing, consistent and ultimately potent bowling unit.

It cannot even be argued now that England's bowlers flourish to such an extent occasionally, with four of the

It may not have been apparent to casual observers so far this summer, but India are officially the number one side in the world right now.

South Africa are the second best side, according to the ICC Test Championship rankings, while England are the next cab in line. Below that, Sri Lanka and Australia occupy fourth and fifth places respectively.

This series has been billed as the two best sides in the world locking horns to decide who is the best. But is this fair? After all, South Africa must be sitting in second spot wondering why their claims are being largely ignored.

ICC chief executive

All the conservative platitudes will be rolled out after the match - warning against complacency, extolling the virtues of taking each Test one at a time and of not getting too far ahead of the present moment - but England's clinical and emphatic dismantling of the world's number one side India was truly startling.

Such was the convincing manner of England's win late on day four at Trent Bridge, that it was hard to believe that India had occupied match-winning positions twice over the first two days in Nottingham.

Indeed, the hosts' victory margin of 319 runs is the largest by a team who had

Today was
the day that India all but lost the Trent Bridge Test, but won hearts and minds
for a wonderfully sporting decision.

There Ian
Bell was, carefully dismantling the notion that he cannot bat at number three
stroke by brilliant stroke, when he made a misjudgement from the final ball
before tea.

Assuming
that the fielder in the deep had not been able to stop a boundary, he strolled
down the ground and towards the pavilion like a man who had earned a hot cup of
tea and a lemon slice.

Unfortunately
for Bell, he hadn't. The ball had stayed just inside the rope, Praveen Kumar
threw it back

England did not have things their own way on day two of the Trent Bridge Test against India, but a quite stunning hat-trick from Stuart Broad dramatically changed the complexion of the match.

It had been an arduous day of slogging it out in the field for England before India sensationally imploded from 273 for five to 288 all out with Broad's three scalps in successive deliveries sending the Nottingham crowd into raptures.

The hat-trick was set in motion by none other than India skipper MS Dhoni, who flashed wildly at a widish outswinger with his feet apparently stuck in cement at the crease,

Why did the frontline England batsmen play score so
slowly? Why did Stuart Broad look so confident and so prolific? Why was even
Graeme Swann able to take the India attack to the cleaners for a fleeting
spell?

All legitimate questions, and all answered by the
simple maxim: play with freedom and runs will come, and come fast.

After MS Dhoni again called the ICC coin correctly -
again proving Andrew Strauss to be a poor tosser, just like predecessors
Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain - England's batsmen appeared utterly
paralysed with negativity.

Indeed, England's approach was nothing short of

It was fitting for the 2,000th encounter of cricket's greatest format to be such a classic, titanic clash between the world's two best sides.

England clinched a 196-run victory in the historic Test to move one step closer to fulfilling their stated ambition of becoming the number one side in the world.

Oh, and anyone doubting the popularity of the format on the world stage should have got themselves down to St John's Wood at around 03:00 in the morning where a long snake of fans had already formed, clutching coffees and Wisden Almanacks in hand.

The atmosphere was absolutely immense at Lord's