Day three at Ahmedabad

Stumps: England 111-0 and 191. India 521-8 dec.

So why couldn’t we have batted like that in the first innings?

I’m referring to Cook and Compton’s relatively serene progress so far in our second dig: compared to what went before, the pair now seem to be occupying a parallel universe.

It is usually easier second time around, especially when you’re following on, because as you now expect to lose, the pressure is reduced and the bowlers lack as much zest. But the ease with which they’ve played underlines the calamity which befell us towards the end of day two.

Rightly have our batsmen been excoriated for their inadequacy against spin, but in fact, Cook and Compton began our first innings pretty comfortably. The fatal error, after the latter’s dismissal, was sending out Anderson as nightwatchman with twenty minutes still to play. Was he ever likely to survive for that length of time, in such a demanding context? When Anderson himself fell, India gained momentum, and Trott’s swift and subsequent downfall was inevitable – partly because he came to the crease under unnecessary extra pressure.

Our best hope in Asian test matches is avoiding losing wickets in clusters, because when that happens, our batsmen begin to panic – as Pietersen and Bell demonstrated today. Conversely, when we can construct a substantial partnership, the whole tone changes – as Cook and Compton in turn demonstrated today. Sending out Anderson made a cluster a near certainly, and changed the entire dynamic of the match.

That said, our players’ chaotic and sclerotic approach to Asian spin is difficult to defend. It’s easy for me to say this, sitting on a sofa eight thousand miles away – but our line-up has already played five matches this year in similar conditions. How did they manage – given that they are paid to do this for a living – not to learn any lessons whatsoever from their experiences in UAE and Sri Lanka? What has Graham Gooch been doing all this time, apart from trying to get Ravi Bopara back in the side?

Incidentally, I suspect (on admittedly little evidence) that Gooch was the mastermind behind our brilliant strategy of picking three seamers and no Monty for this match. He, as you may recall, presided over England’s 3-0 hammering by India in 1992/3, which included the debacle on a bunsen at Calcutta, when India picked three spinners, and we fielded no fewer than four medium pacers.

But I digress. My sense is that we punters have now lost patience not just with our team’s disastrous approach to spin but their failure to get on top of the psychological dimension to the problem – because, surely, at least 80 per cent of those failings are in the mind. Cook and Compton, in our second innings, were playing against the same bowlers, on the same pitch, as we did in the first innings. In one-day cricket, when there’s less time and fewer things to worry about, we are perfectly competent against spinners in Asia, winning all four ODIs against Pakistan in UAE last spring.

As an e-mailer to BBC Online observed today, the strictures of limited overs cricket “force them to play the spinners with intent and learn how to rotate the strike. In the UAE suddenly they were able to play Ajmal et al a lot better”. He goes on to suggest that England demand to play the one-dayers before the test series, to warm up against spin. That won’t be possible, but surely it’s within our batsmen’s mental compass to judiciously apply the ODI mindset (but not a reckless T20 one) to test match innings.

We either defend far too nervously, just sitting there waiting to be dismissed, or go to the other extreme, and play a ludicrous shot in a feeble attempt to show who’s boss. What’s really needed is confidence and authority – attributes which are very hard to manufacture.

The worst culprit is Ian Bell, who misses the next test regardless for the birth of his baby. This gives an opportunity to either Jonny Bairstow or Eoin Morgan, who maybe should have been playing in this test anyway. As we suggested two weeks ago, our strength is – paradoxically – in the middle order, where at least three batsmen have strong claims to the number six slot. Compton’s not played badly in this match, but maybe we’d have been better off without him, and with Trott opening, to allow room for a more vigorous talent.

Selection is the hot topic at the moment, as England supporters everywhere are perplexed by the XI chosen for this match. I would advocate dropping Broad, who is bowling increasingly slowly and looks increasingly unlikely to take wickets in significant numbers. Bresnan, who was mediocre here as well, must also sit out to allow the second spinner.

So my XI for the second test would be:

– Cook, Compton, Trott, Pietersen, Bairstow, Patel, Prior, Swann, Anderson, Finn, Panesar.

What about yours?

As to the match situation from here on – comparisons have already been made to Brisbane 2010, where we ended up batting for more than two days to secure a winning draw. The numbers are more difficult this time, though – at the Gabba we were bowled out for 260 first innings, and conceded only 480. To have a chance, we can probably afford to lose no more than three wickets during the whole of tomorrow’s play. Which even the greatest patriot would concede is not terribly likely.

Maxie Allen