England salvage pride but lose series

As expected, England duly lost their first Test series on home soil since 2001 as they were beaten 1-0 by India. Michael Vaughan's side did, at least, salvage some pride by batting through the final day but they will have to pick themselves up for a mammoth seven one day matches, starting on August 21.

Kevin Pietersen's century was the obvious highlight of day five at the Oval, from an England point of view, but Vaughan and co will begin a period of soul searching to examine where and why things went wrong.

India are a talented side, but the fact that they managed to win the series with only one of their side making a hundred - and that man being Anil Kumble, of all people - suggests that they didn't play stunningly well.

England did not bat well enough, consistently, and when someone did make a big score, not enough of his team-mates backed him up.

The one-day side will be different to the Test line-up of course but it will take a big effort to get back on track, even if the one-day game is not as important as the Test arena.