India duly claim the series but England reclaim their pride

Cricket:To India, with justification, went the spoils of this series but in batting out the final day in some measure of comfort England reclaimed a little of the self-esteem they had lost at Trent Bridge and in the course of India's mammoth first innings here.

With the target of 500 an unrealistic proposition from the start of play, England were left with 90 overs to salvage some pride. With the aid of Kevin Pietersen's 10th Test hundred and solid contributions elsewhere - most notably, given his lamentable record in the second innings of matches, from Ian Bell - they managed it.

India took the game to the wire once the second new ball, taken in the final session, had disposed of Paul Collingwood and then Pietersen in the immediate aftermath of his century celebrations. They did not even call a halt once all mathematical possibility of a win had been extinguished. England finished in watery evening sunlight on 369 for six, with predators encircling defensive bats and in prime position to pounce on souvenir stumps.

Whatever happens in the forthcoming one-day series (and it is hard to envisage the tourists being beaten, despite their unpleasant World Cup experience), Rahul Dravid's side can expect to be feted back home.

A second win for India would have put them alongside England in the world rankings. In his second-innings tactics Dravid made such things a secondary consideration to pursuit of the series victory, a course for which no one should vilify him.

For England, the match, if not the series, was there to be saved and they can take credit that they did so.

New England coach Peter Moores had inherited the nucleus of a side but already, in part through injuries, he has managed to stamp his mark on proceedings. With the successful introduction of Ryan Sidebottom and Chris Tremlett to be set alongside an invigorating performance from James Anderson (whom the Indian team nominated as England's man of the series), England have been outbowled in the past few weeks only by the magnificent Zaheer Khan, the man of the series for the tourists.

Instead, three elements led to England's defeat: a failure to finish the job at Lord's, largely down to a lack of urgency as bad weather approached; the loss of the toss at Trent Bridge, which precipitated an insipid first-innings batting performance, devoid of technique against the swinging ball; and a serious underestimation of the Indian opening pair, who batted England out of that match and, in a difficult series for facing the new ball, lacked class only by comparison with the stellar reputation of their middle order.

The real question facing Moores concerns the batting and the balance of the side once Andrew Flintoff returns. Can they be confident enough in the all-rounder's fitness to make him part of a four-man attack alongside two pacemen and Monty Panesar. And where should he bat when he does return? .

The vulnerable ones would be Andrew Strauss and Bell. Flintoff, a giant player, should be at number six to balance the side but there is a paradoxical possibility he will do precisely the opposite.