England’s dominance has been unrestrained, total

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After three days of rioting and unrest, peace returned to the city of Birmingham but there was mayhem at the Edgbaston ground. England plundered runs at will on the second day against a haggard Indian attack supported by fielders whose shoulders sagged seem to sag at ankle level.

Overcast skies caused a 30-minute delay in start of play, but that was about the only period of relief as the England top order sent Dhoni’s team on a hunt for leather to every corner of this large ground. The sky was overcast for brief spells in the first and last sessions, but this added no deadly dimension to the Indian pace attack; it only enhanced the general sense of gloom that has pervaded their every day on this tour.
England’s openers were the only two from this squad who had done very little of note in the series yet, and Strauss and Cook made it sure that they were not going to miss out on the party that this series is turning out to be. Or should one make that orgy? The manner and rate at which England have made runs and taken wickets has seemed like unrestrained, almost obscene fun.
India’s only hope of staying in the game was to get some early wickets, but that became a fanciful quest within the first half hour of play itself. Unlike the England pace trio, India’s three seamers got virtually no lateral movement to worry the batsmen. What India’s pacemen — barring the extremely hard-working Praveen Kumar — also lacked was the accuracy in line and length to curb the flow of runs.
Strauss and Cook began watchfully, and having seen off the early freshness of the pitch and the bowlers, grew into immaculate and authoritative strokeplay. Strauss, the more aggressive of the two, only missed his century because of a self-indulgent sweep which exposed his leg-stump.
That this dismissal came off a no-ball from Amit Mishra would have riled the England captain through the day. But Mishra made no gains from this luck. He got turn and bounce, but lacked control; and surely bowling eight no-balls in 18 overs (at the time of writing this) was a cardinal sin.
Unlike Strauss, though Cook was not to look a gift horse in the mouth. When he is not groping for touch and rhythm, Cook looks a class act, timing the ball sweetly, playing deft and stylish strokes which even the bowler would be compelled to applaud. He has a penchant for off-side strokes, and the difficult inside-out drives are played with remarkable control.But the short-arm pull is no less attractive.
The massive first wicket partnership gave England just the platform to pile on the runs and agony on the Indian team with a ruthlessness that is the hallmark of a team that is not only hugely talented, but also deeply ambitious.
Bell played a cameo in which he was dropped once by Dravid at slip, but nevertheless gave the innings thrust and momentum to ensure that at least 300 runs would be scored in the day. He was bowled by a beauty from Praveen, but had done his bit to subjugate the bowling further.
Pietersen, all swagger and breathtaking cuts, pulls and drives, was to improve the tempo even further in with a rapid-fire half-century. He looked distraught when given leg-before to Praveen, but his 122 run partnership for the third wicket with Cook had almost irrevocably put India out of the game.
By the end of the day, India had been pushed into a pathetic situation — and not for the first time. In fact things have gotten progressively worse with every passing day, each day showing up grotesquely the lack of thought and preparation that has gone into this tour.
On Thursday, this was manifest through Virender Sehwag’s several misfields — at times missing the ball altogether — and his inability to throw even a short distance with his right arm. Forget a Test match, this would have been unacceptable even in a club match.
Sehwag’s trepidations to dive or use his right shoulder are understandable considering that he has only just returned from major surgery and has had virtually no practice. But this also begs the question whether pitching him into this Test match as the team’s great saviour was not merely creating a myth rather than looking at hard, cricket logic.