Battling opposites seek to tip balance

Today's one-day international between England was never destined to have much importance - the 7th in what was sure to be an interminably long and tedious series, the outcome of which was largely expected to have been decided, it was scheduled on the same day as high profile matches for both the rugby and football teams and seemingly destined for graveyard levels of interest and publicity. Yet after 6 matches of absorbing and high-quality cricket, the outcome of the series will be decided in an effective final, at Lord' s, no less.

No-one, with cricket rather than coin running through their heart, wanted this series to run seven matches, your correspondent utterly unexcepted. Yet no-one could have expected some of the highlights of the 600 or so overs of cricket these two sides have contested thus far. A list of three different English century makers, the names Pietersen and Collingwood conspicuously absent; elegantly ponderous Test batsmen Ian Bell and Rahul Dravid blazing a trail with innovative, scintillating strokeplay; the still breathtaking sight of Flintoff steaming in at full tilt; the whiles and guile of the maverick, tubby Powar; Bopara and Broad manufacturing a partnership to somehow salvage a win from a cause most had long since abandoned; Mascarenhas clubbing the last five balls of an innings over the boundary rope; Uthappa's late audacious sally to snatch victory at The Oval and ensure the series outcome would remain undecided until the last.

No, turgid and unsuccessful cricket is what England fans have come to expect from their team in coloured clothing, and a one-sided series was generally forecasted. For the first four matches, this prediction largely held sway, although not quite in the way expected. England, keen in the field, effective with the bat and lent a cutting edge with the ball by the return of Flintoff, clambered all over India, who were geriatric in the field, lacked balance in the absence of a genuine all-rounder and suffered when the spinners were not bowling.

But India had too much quality to stay down for the count, and two batting efforts in excess of 300; setting a winning score at Headingley and chasing in the following game, have dragged them back to parity. And while the fielding has perked up after plumbing levels which would shame an over-40s pub team, it has indeed been with the bat in hand where India have won the games. And while the game of cricket, especially in its shorter form, has been changing all around him for the 17 year span of his international career, one thing remains constant - Sachin Tendulkar still wins games for India.

During the Test series, it was clear to see that he was a long way off his dominant best; he still had some success, notably with crucial 90s at Trent Bridge and The Oval, but it was achieved in a different manner from conquests past, and possibly with a different motive at heart. Whereas in years past, Tendulkar has been a destroyer of the best bowling attacks, here he had to work for his runs, accumulating and compiling innings. And while he had once been criticised as an insular character, now he appeared more outgoing - a team man - fielding in the slips where he had once prowled the outer reaches, ever willing to turn his arm over. And at the beginning of the one-day series, this ponderous style looked to be getting the better of him - he struggled to pierce the inner fielding ring, and twice offered easy catches to men in the middle of nowhere on the leg-side. But the latter part of the rubber has seen the return of the old Tendulkar, the dominant Tendulkar, Tendulkar the batting god. Once more the ball rockets off the bat, fielders with no more than a handful of paces to make up on the boundary are left floundering as the white missile pelts past them. The body has begun to fail him, which is why where the Tendulkar of 1996 or 2002 might have celebrated three centuries this series, he is still yet to pass three figures. But this is Lord's, this is a final, and this is the last time he will represent India on English soil. 27,000 at the Home of Cricket will be hoping, 1,000,000,000 back at home will be expecting one last flourish of genius from the man who has provided so many over the best part of two decades, and has shown in his last two appearances that he still has it in him.

And while the physically small Tendulkar is his country talisman, England will be looking for their own totemic figure, Andrew Flintoff, to return . It is a romantic vision, the injured Flintoff rising up to inspire his team to victory, and the sort of which cricket, as a sport, has the power on occasion to indulge. But likely as it is he will play, England, despite their coach's expostulations, are indeed taking a risk with his health, although it seems these days Flintoff cannot take the cricket field without risking some part of the lower body which provides the power-base for his herculean bowling. England will hope to get the ten cheap overs they need out of Flintoff and pray that this does not lead to any further deterioration. But the long term situation regarding his fitness is a more complicated one, and, although it is a matter for another day, that day must be soon, even if the answers are not those anyone wants to hear.

England have begun to turn a corner in this series; for the first time in years, the structure for what could prove an excellent one-day side appears to be coming together. And while 3-4 would have been an acceptable result at the outset, it would be a black mark to let the series slide having needed just one win from the last three games to seal it. For India, the same process is one which looms large; over the last week, there have been rumblings that Tendulkar will retire from the shorter form of the game after India's next two home ODI series; Dravid and Ganguly cannot be too far behind, and their young 20-20 squad, with MS Dhoni as captain, shows that they have already begun to consider the future without the reassuring names which have been the present for so long. England need the win to confirm their improvement as a one-day side, India so that they avoid what would be an embarrassing defeat overall and to leave England with not only the series victory they might not have expected, but the one everyone thought was theirs for the taking. What was originally ordained to be decided over the course of seven matches can now be settled in just one. The best of both worlds then, although it will be an uncomfortable place for the team who comes second.