Back in the throne room

Everyone knew there was a reason for English optimism in this series. It's just, that in all the hoo-ha about Nasser Hussain's resignation and Graeme Smith's record-breaking, no-one could quite remember what there was to be cheerful about.

But at the third attempt, England are delivering. They have 445 runs on the board and a treacherous pitch to play with, and just as was the case on South Africa's 1998 tour, the Trent Bridge Test is shaping up as the make-or-break tussle. England's discipline today, with bat and ball, has put them firmly on top with three days to go.

Ok, so it took a once-in-a-career fluke to prise Smith from the crease, and with Jacques Kallis firmly entrenched by the close, that dread feeling of the past fortnight hasn't quite dissipated. But, as any nervous wreck of an England supporter would testify, cautious optimism is a vast improvement on the reckless abandon with which this series was launched.

Youth and experience. That was supposed to be England's dream ticket at the start of the series, but it was absurdly frittered away by the media and marketing frenzy that followed the NatWest Series. Only in the most blasé of opinions could Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart be transformed overnight from integral influences to expendable extras. Their furious replies have, understandably, taken a few weeks to script, but they were worth the wait.

The Dawn of Vaughan should have fitted snugly with the Wane of Hussain - England, of all nations, knows that gradual reform is preferable to bloody revolution. And at last, after that disastrous inter-regnum at Lord's, Hussain and Stewart are once again back in the throne-room. Team England is a constitutional monarchy these days, with the decisions now being taken by younger men. But there is no doubt who rules.