The Victorian boss ruled his charges with the cane and the rod. But Duncan Fletcher, though he would quite suit a pair of breeches, is a very modern manager. He operates with the carrot and the frown. Take his comments on England's less-than-spectacular batting in the three-day game at Hyderabad: "I'd say it was a very good exercise for the players. I think we batted well in the first innings, scoring at over three and a half runs an over on a wicket that's pretty strange to them. It was just this last innings when the guys gave away too many wickets.

"Against the spinners it is very, very difficult to score runs, and they just had to sit there and realise that there is a fine balance between playing positive and being patient. That's what they've got to work out. Some of them did."

There were words of firm advice for the bowlers too: "They didn't bowl too well yesterday, but I had a chat to them and they seemed to get it right. They've just got to realise that they've got to concentrate with every ball they bowl. There is probably no margin of error out here. The Indians judge length very, very well and so they have to make sure that the ball is in the right area all the time."

But this is also a manager who stands up for his young charges. He gave both Michael Vaughan, who has failed three times in three innings, and Richard Dawson, who went wicketless in this match, a verbal thumbs-up.

"Lack of runs is a problem [for Vaughan], but I think he batted very well. He timed the ball probably better than anyone when he went in there, he got the pace of the wicket quickly and he played some great shots. That ball just kept very low - something that can happen to any guy early on. But he looked impressive which is important.

"Martyn [Ball] bowled well, but at the same time Dawson bowled very well in the first game - he probably just had an off-day today."

None of which really cleared up the competition for places in the final warm-up game at Jaipur starting on Tuesday - except for confirmation that Ashley Giles and Andy Flintoff, who has landed in India, will both play if fit and acclimatised.

Fletcher is far too wily to be drawn on the current crisis in South Africa and how it might affect England's tour.

"We're here to play cricket," he said. "As far as we're concerned we've got a three-day game next week and then a Test match and I think we've got enough work cut out. We look after the controllables."

Ah, the controllables. It's a shame Fletcher can't actually control everyone when they're on the field. When asked how far off England were from the state he'd like them to be he was almost perplexed. "We'd like to beat India by 10 wickets so if you measure it from that we're way off, but I mean to beat them - we are at about 60-70% at this stage."

England have a week and two days to find the other 30-40%. Tanya Aldred, our assistant editor, is covering the whole tour for Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd