India teeter on the edge of defeat at Lord's Take away two scores in England's second innings, and the card suddenly looks a lot better from the Indian point of view. But those two scores - of 100 each by Michael Vaughan and John Crawley - broke the back of the Indian bowling with a 137-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Building on England's already formidable lead, the batsmen helped their side to 301 for six, upon which Nasser Hussain declared. India had a snowball's chance in hell of chasing the target of 568, but their hopes of even saving the Test were shattered by Matthew Hoggard, who got rid of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in successive deliveries. At 232 for six, India are teetering, and their defeat on the final day is an unfortunate inevitability. VVS Laxman is still at the crease, and even though he was the architect of arguably Test cricket's greatest turnaround, even he will profess to be a tad hamstrung by the circumstances.

A man who knows the virtue of a good line There's a twinkle in his eye when he speaks about his art - and an art it is, though less glamourous than the flashing blade of a Lara, the tweak of a Warne, or the sheer pace of an Akhtar. Angus Fraser has replaced the red cherry with a laptop now, though, and his commentary on the game is as precise as his bowling. What is it about the wicket that’s meant that England have been able to dominate so much? The odd ball is keeping a bit low, especially when the ball hits one of the cracks on this wicket. It’s a dry pitch and is crumbling a bit. Having said that, there hasn’t been a great deal in the wicket for the bowlers - the England bowlers have done very well. This, combined with some indifferent Indian batting has meant that England are in total control. Can you even remember the last occasion a bowling attack did so well? The fact that India were bowled out for just 221 is a huge credit to the bowlers. They were bowling to a 7-2 offside field without having to land the ball a yard and a half outside the stumps. That would have made it easy for the batsmen to leave the ball. The bowlers kept up a magnificent line and the batsmen had to play at almost everything. They did the same against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford. This is a very weakened bowling attack in the absence of Gough and Caddick... This is a good second string of bowlers for England. Hoggard and Flintoff have a bit of experience but, by and large, they are an inexperienced lot. Despite this, they’ve shown in the winter what they’re capable of.

An unwelcome intrusion A breach of security that which saw a spectator step on to the field and put a consoling arm around Sachin Tendulkar after the latter's dismissal in the Indian second innnings at Lord's has raised the hackles of the tourists' team management. "It could have been a disaster. The man could have been a terrorist. This is unacceptable," Indian team manager Ranga Reddy was reported as saying. The 24-year-old intruder, who wore a blue shirt and tie, was identified to be the guest of an MCC member. Roger Knight, the secretary and chief executive of MCC, apologised for the incident which reportedly happened because the spectator was mistaken to be a member of the Channel 4 crew. But the matter might not rest at that as Reddy is expected to contact BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

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