Survival of the fittest

The biggest question within the England camp must be whether Andrew Flintoff can return to full fitness before this series ends.

The problem is that after a long layoff, no matter how much you've been practising, match fitness is never fully yours, so most players tend to pick up the occasional niggle when they return, and Flintoff crashed into that advertising board anyway. So I wouldn't worry too much about it yet.

What I would worry about, however, is the narrowness of India's win at Bristol. With 329 to defend, you would think victory would be a canter, but India almost allowed England to get away with it. The spinners may have won it for them, but they will not do it all the time. The seamers looked innocuous, and I have to say Ajit Agarkar still looks painfully ordinary.

Munaf Patel took a beating, too, but at least he had three wickets to show for it. He is India's bowler for the future, but Munaf is spending far too much time as a passenger.

Obviously rusty

Unfortunately, the hectic schedules of modern cricket leave no time for enough warm-up games, which a bowler who has not been featuring in the first XI can use to ease his way back to match fitness. So Munaf is obviously rusty.

The other bit of trouble here - and I refer to all the Indian players - is I don't think they are trained to be athletes. They are talented batsmen and bowlers, but not very good athletes, which obviously affects their fitness. You can count on the fingers of one hand the fielders who have stood out in the past - Ajay Jadeja, Mohammad Azharuddin, Robin Singh and Mohammad Kaif.

For the same reason, you will find brilliant slip catchers like Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, but no outstanding cover fielder. And good athletes in the team are mandatory if you are to consistently win one-dayers. This is particularly so of today's ODI at Edgbaston, which will present a lightning fast outfield.