Andrew Strauss – 6: Had his helmet broken by Sharma and then batted as if stuck in treacle on the second morning to yet again fail to go on after making a start. His golden touch as captain still shows no signs of eluding him though.
Alastair Cook – 5: Left the run plundering to others on this occasion after edging a good ball from Ishant to first slip early on day 2.
Ian Bell – 10: Now ranks alongside Gower and Vaughan as the classiest and most elegant England batsmen of the last 30 years. Batted beautifully to record a richly deserved first Test double hundred and reach a monumental 835 Test runs for the summer. Fantastic catch to snare Mishra when India batted first time.
Kevin Pietersen – 9: Enjoys batting at The Oval and didn’t it show? Now back to his arrogant, dismissive and strutting best. More of a team man now though as his visible joy at the success of others showed.
Eoin Morgan – 2: Succumbed to his obvious weakness to seam outside off-stump once again. Safe for now but may be looking over his shoulder at the likes of Taylor, Bairstow and Bopara.
Ravi Bopara – 6: Much better. The nerves of Edgbaston dissipated as the Essex man compiled a composed and unbeaten 44 to probably seal a spot as the spare batsman over the winter.
Matt Prior – 6: Brilliant stumping of Raina in the first innings was tempered with a couple of dropped catches off Swann. However, the magnitude of his improvement as a keeper is that these errors came as a surprise.
Tim Bresnan – 7: Not as impressive as he was at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston but still picked up three late order wickets first time around and the prize (but fortuitous) wicket of Tendulkar on the final day. England’s lucky mascot with ten wins from his first ten Tests.
Stuart Broad – 8: Highly impressive once again to crown a fantastic series for the T20 skipper. Extracted formidable bounce and movement from a prime batting wicket and caused India’s supposedly stellar top-order batsmen no end of problems.
Graeme Swann – 9: Finally got his chance in the spotlight on a pitch he’d like to take everywhere with him. Spin, turn, bounce and variation – it was all there as he snared a nine wicket match haul.
James Anderson – 8: Swapped roles with Swann to play an unaccustomed support role on this occasion but was as impressive and dangerous as ever, bowling a beauty to remove Laxman in the second innings.
Where next?
4th Test: The Oval - India marks out of 10
3rd Test: Edgbaston - India marks out of 10
3rd Test: Edgbaston - England marks out of 10
2nd Test: Trent Bridge - India marks out of 10
2nd Test: Trent Bridge - England marks out of 10
1st Test: Lord's - England marks out of 10
1st Test: Lord's - India marks out of 10
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