For the first half of the day the best place to watch the match if you were an England supporter was from behind the sofa, as if you were an eight-year-old watching Dr Who. But by the close Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart, England's two time-lords with 73 years on the clock, had tamed the terrors of the pitch and ensured their side would live on to fight another day. It will be just as hard tomorrow, with the zippy Zaheer Khan armed with a still-newish ball. But a draw - which seemed a remote possibility when John Crawley patted Sanjay Bangar tamely to cover - is a distinct possibility.

Overall, though, India have dominated the match. It was almost as if England had half-expected to turn up and let the pitch do the usual. But, on what Nasser Hussain admitted was a "350 pitch", India applied themselves to score 628. England managed 273 and, second time round, were struggling to better that until the old pros booked in for bed and breakfast.

Until then the main difference had been one of application. India's Nos. 3, 4 and 5 contributed 148, 193 and 129. England's managed 16, 25 and 13 in the first innings ... and 42, Nasser's nifty 90 not out, and 12. One half-century plays three big hundreds. That stat does conveniently ignore Stewart's vital double, but it's still a big difference from the respective sides' engine-rooms.

Mark Butcher was clunking his drives as he did in that Brisbane century late in 1998, or indeed in his heroic Headingley humdinger last summer. But then he was bamboozled by Bangar, whose previous Test bowling had been about as explosive as a sherbet fountain. Two balls looped in, then Bangar scrambled the seam and floated one away, and Butcher snicked it to slip. Bangar, who had precisely one Test wicket to his name before this spell - the West Indian duck specialist Merv Dillon - threatened to become England's most unlikely executioner since Mudassar Nazar's golden-arm spell of 6 for 32 at Lord's in 1982.

England's troubles started when Michael Vaughan was pinned by Ajit Agarkar. Vaughan and Hussain were the England players most likely to stick it out for the requisite day and a half, but in both innings here Vaughan has batted airily - almost as if his form has been too good and batting has been too easy.

Robert Key stuck it out for a while, putting the memory of those dropped catches behind him. But he wasn't entirely convincing, and may be heading for a spell back in county cricket to work on that homespun front-foot technique. If Marcus Trescothick is fit, England will be exchanging one apple-cheeked opener for another at The Oval.

But before that England have some work to do. Hussain, despite some worrying blows on those fragile fingers, is still there. Stewart stuck there too, rubbishing those who thought he couldn't handle the varying spin of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Ninety overs to go ...

Steven Lynch is database director of Wisden.com.

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