Test match between England and Australia at Lord’s is the fixture of all cricket fixtures, and

though India have risen to become the foremost power in the sport and top of the Test
rankings, this match is not going to alter the traditional order of priorities. The balance
between bat and ball has been too lop-sided.

England dismissed India for only 107 on a pitch that was damp after Thursday’s wash-out
and under skies that were leaden when not unloading. James Anderson at 36 is not only
older than he used to be but fuller, not of girth, but of length, and so he maximised the
conditions.

Such was Anderson’s master-craftsmanship it was almost more remarkable that he

conceded 20 runs than that he took five wickets, while swelling his Test swag to 549. Had
Anderson been bowling throughout at both ends, India would have been dismissed for less
than 42, their lowest ever total which was made at Lord’s in similar conditions in 1974.

But it was rather too straightforward to be fully satisfying, although the crowd would no
doubt have exulted if it had been an Ashes Test. In county cricket the visiting side would
have exerted its right to bowl first every time. As there had to be a toss, Joe Root won it,
and if rain stays away on the last three days, the match with it.

Top models hanker for the curves that Anderson and Chris Woakes achieved with their
outswinger, Sam Curran too with his inswinger. Not only was the swing more extreme than
at Edgbaston but the seam movement was occasionally such, when the ball bit into the
damp turf, that it could have been one of Adil Rashid’s legbreaks souped up to mid-80s
mph.