England's cricketers thoroughly deserved their 4-0 victory in the Test series against India that concluded on Monday.

Put simply, the team outplayed its opponent in every department, and showed a greater desire for the contest than the Indians, several of whom looked as though they wanted to be anywhere but on a cricket field.

The alarm bells should have been ringing when India failed to convincingly dispatch a relatively weak West Indian team in the series before it arrived in England. A number of key players missed the trip to the West Indies, possibly to the detriment of India's chances against England.

Only three members of the battered and bruised Indian squad came out of the series with enhanced reputations. Rahul Dravid was deservedly the man of the series for India. He ended the four Tests with three centuries and a batting average a shade under 77. That would be an admirable performance in a winning unit, but to play as he did while his teammates collapsed around him is a testament to his quality. Dravid is known to dislike his nickname "The Wall", and one poster on a cricket bulletin board was surely spot on when it suggested that the name should now be changed to "The Backbone".

Praveen Kumar never gave up trying and brought a rare air of urgency to India's depleted attack, despite his obvious limitations in terms of pace. Meanwhile, the last day at the Oval saw the emergence of Amit Mishra, who helped Sachin Tendulkar to add 144 for the fourth wicket and scored faster than his more illustrious colleague for large parts of that stand as the great man edged toward what would have been his 100th international ton, had he not fallen nine runs short.

However, Tendulkar could have been out on a number of occasions as an unappealed stumping, at least two dropped catches and a couple of unrewarded leg before appeals let him off the hook.

In truth, Tendulkar has looked out of sorts throughout the series and possibly the weight of expectation was too great a burden for the "Little Master". Maybe he'll achieve the feat in the series of one-day internationals that now looms. If he does, though, there is the danger that those charged with restoring pride to Indian cricket will simply allow the problems to be swept under the carpet amid the general celebrations attendant on Tendulkar's success. That must not be allowed to happen.

One key move would be to give the coach, Duncan Fletcher, more control over his charges. The selection of the unfit, overweight R.P. Singh for the last Test proved how little influence the Zimbabwean has in team matters, despite his position. "Player Power" is all in this Indian side, and it has to stop if the team wants to rescale the heights. Fletcher was pivotal in the resurrection of English cricket, and can play a vital role in helping India rebuild and dominate once again, but only if he is allowed to.

For England, this was almost the perfect series, with every one of its players contributing to the team's success. Despite a few low scores early on, Alastair Cook has continued the rich vein of form he discovered in Australia and Ian Bell is finally starting to look like the dominant batsman England supporters have always hoped he would be. The attack carried on with the job it began in Australia, and the loss of fast bowler Chris Tremlett and key batsman Jonathan Trott failed to derail England as the substitutes proved to be more than adequate for the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Andrew Strauss, although short of runs in the series, out-captained his opposite number, M.S. Dhoni, by a country mile.

For England, the stakes are higher than they have ever been. The team must now prove itself worthy of the title of the world's best Test team and begin to win away from home consistently: January's series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, followed by a visit to Sri Lanka, will provide ample evidence to make a decision if the team is as good as it currently looks. For now, though, England's cricketers deserve praise for their achievement and a few beers.

Paul Tomic can be contacted at paultomic@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/26/2011 page23)