England 1 : India 0

Yes, I know that I have not been posting a lot recently, but, after all, these are supposed to be holidays and it is pretty hard to write blogs when you are off on a bike ride and it is raining much of the time. More of that later, as well as the current clutch and other minor woes of my Ducati, which otherwise enjoyed most of the 3 days riding in some cold and wet central French landscapes as much as I did. 

The sports news over recent days, at least as far as I am concerned, have been mainly cricket oriented, with a fascinating first test between England and India that finished at Lords on Monday with a convincing victory for England.

I had predicted that this series would not be easy for England to win, and especially not at all easy for them to go 2 up in the series. But then one of India's star batsmen, the spectacular opener Virendar Sehwag, is unable to play at all, and India's best fast bowler, Zaheer Khan, suffered a hamstring injury during this test match.  This makes things much harder for India, currently the world number one team, and the odds have been evened, and possibly more than just that. Things can change quite fast in top sports competitions.

The English team played well to win this Lord's test, with its two most criticised players, the batsman Kevin Pieterson and the bowler/all-rounder Stuart Broad, both delivering the goods when it most counted. The bowling of James Anderson was also a key factor, as was the clear determination of the English team and the astute captaincy of Andrew Strauss. Strauss has now become the best and most successful English captain for a long time.

James Anderson clinched the English victory with a convincing 5 wickets in the second innings

But the next test, which begins on Friday, will be another story and England should not cry victory too soon. I think they know it too.

The big disappointment on the Indian side will be the failure of the great Tendulkar to score another major innings, although the captain Dhoni did his stuff brilliantly. But this does not detract from Tendulkar's already acquired greatness.The lack of bowling regularity of the Indian team could be a more considerable handicap in this series.

We shall know more in a week's time!