Hi Alex Braae, excellent article. My thoughts exactly. England had a great summer. England didn't allow India's highly talented cricketers play their natural game. England put constant pressure especially England's bowlers who bowled exceptional disciplined line and legnth deliveries all Summer putting it on a six pence every time. India couldn't handled that kind of pressure, and were badly exposed. As you rightly say by the fifth day of the first test. The test series was as good as over. Well done England! Many Many congratulations to them. Enjoy World Test Champion status for now. They have far exceeded their fans expectations.

True its the Steve Waughs,the Mcgraths,the Warnes who are the real heroes of the games.Hitting a quickfire century or getting a 5 wicket haul by mopping the tail isnt what test cricket is all about.Its about standing on the crease leaving good balls during adversities,its about balling on and on on same line and length before getting an edge when a batsman is batting at 100,its about trapping the batsman by slipping in an occcasional googly amidst conventional leg breaks.A Sehwag can bail you out on his day by a miraculous century but a Dravid or a Laxman would bat for life everyday in any situation.The are the real deserving heroes.

iv no idea why every time england are called # 1 the australian and west indies great teams of the past are brought up. england have been named #1 by whatever way the icc decided that process would take. india had that title,but by england beating them they took it. if england get results they stay top. will they at the end of the period of been top, be called in the same breath as those 2 teams iv no idea. but please let us enjoy been top. its you other teams that have got to up your game.dpk

Folks,may i also add one comment from my end,Cricket is a game of survival. The strongest & the best can flourish,the weaker sides eventually perish. Time is one deciding factor.may time decide the future of world cricket,& which team or rather teams,will dominate it!

I cannot believe how many times I've heard the excuse that india lost because Zaheer was injured. Talk about desperately hanging on to a thread of false hope. He's not that good. He is a good bowler, but bowlers better than him couldn't have turned that series around. England were the better side by some margin and would have won this series in India.

Thank you all for the comments, interesting how some of them stress the 'team' aspect of England's effort, and I agree with that, though perhaps didn't give this enough credit in the article. And Enigma, yes, Khan was injured, as was Sehwag, but I'll bet you $20 that England will tour the subcontinent and play out boring draws against all and sundry. (but not lose)

Thank you Alex Braae for a good analysis of the England - India series Test matches.In my opinion the present England team(Different combination for Tests/ODI/T20) is the strongest among the Cricket playing nations. The team consists of highly talented and experinced players and a wellknit one. The batsmen have played very well at all times and the experienced fast bowlers were effective right from the beginning. England piled up huge scores in the Test Series and the bowlers were effective in getting out the top order Indian batsmen. The Indian top order failed miserably time and again and bowlers were hit for centuries!

The experienced talented batsmen Tendulkar, V.V.S.Laxman failed miserably against the pace attack of England.The inexperienced Indian pace bowlers were not effective. Spinners bowled badly.Overall it was a total failure on all fronts! No excuse please!!

England is No 1 in ICC Test Cricket and also winners of ICC T20 World Cup 2010.

Well, everyone has their own point of view and opinion.I remember when India went on top of the table that the site was bombarded with comments that they would not even manage to stay there a month, but they remained on top for almost 2 years. Personally, I think the jury is still out on the quality of this english side which has already been hailed as unstoppable. No doubt they have potential, but they are yet to perform in conditions alien to home. If merely doing well in home tests was all that meant to be No.1, then Sri Lanka too would be called that during the 2000-2010. A bit too early to pass any judgements on them.

I couldnt agree more. As an Englishman there is a strange feeling of reticence to celebrate this cricket team too loudly, even after 30 years of waiting for England to be the best in the world. Perhaps that is due to ingrained pessimism after all the years of mediocrity, but India had years of mediocrity as well and have been able to boast of their team loudly in recent years.

Whatever the reasons, it is hard to denigrate a side that doesn't just beat opponents, but crushes them. That is the mark of all very, very good sides. Whether or not this England team go on to be regarded as an "All Time Great" Test side will depend on their results over the next few years. But nothing can detract from the dominating performances of the past 9 months, in not just beating Australia away and India at home, but destroying them to a degree that no English cricket lover has ever experienced before.

You're right, it can't last forever, but we've had to wait an very long time for an England side to play so consistently well. Believe me, those of us who sat through the dark ages of 1987-99 are lapping up every minute of this!