England tick a few boxes

On the field,Bresnan is untiring. He is the quintessential team-man-one who can be trusted with plugging away relentlessly regardless of pitch or weather conditions.

The 27-year-olds approach to bowling is as unassuming as his disposition. On the face of it,theres not much in Bresnans repertoire that really catches the eye. He bowls what is commonly called the heavy ball,using his expansive shoulders to bang the ball just short of good length and gets it to thud onto the bat. But there are subtleties in grip and release that he uses cannily to move the ball off the seam. Then there is the effort ball,which more often than not gets Bresnan his wickets.

Like Yuvraj Singh found out on Thursday at the Brabourne Stadium. The India A left-hander had walked out in a rather sedate mood in the second innings. But just when he looked like he had got his eye in,Bresnan hurried Yuvraj into a desperate stroke,getting him caught at mid on.

He had caught Ajinkya Rahane and a well-set Manoj Tiwary napping in similar fashion even in the first innings. Rahane had hardly looked in trouble during his 16-ball stay at the crease before Bresnan surprised him with a stinging short-pitched delivery. None of the English bowlers had made an impact on Tiwary before the Yorkshireman snuck through his defences.

With two centuries and a handful of fifties for their batsmen,despite the five wickets to Yuvrajs part-time spin,England will go away from the Brabourne Stadium quite satisfied. On top of their list though is sure to be Bresnans performance-four wickets in the match,and an unbeaten 33.

Bresnan had been the go-to guy for Andrew Strauss whenever the Indians forged even a semblance of a partnership last year in England. And he delivered more often than not with 16 wickets at 16.31 apiece,including an inspired match-winning spell of 5/48 at Trent Bridge.

Also in Bresnans arsenal is the uncanny ability to pick up a wicket when his team needs it the most. And often the most valuable one at that. Like the unplayable delivery he bowled to Rahul Dravid in Birmingham. Though he might have been brought up on the seamer-friendly climes of Headingley in Leeds,Bresnan has displayed the ability to adapt to all sorts of wickets. He was handy in Sri Lanka too,earlier in the year.

And with the wickets expected to be similar to the one at the CCI,Bresnan is sure to be a crucial factor for Englands success against the Indian batting line-up.

This being his third Test tour to India,James Anderson has enough nous to be successful on the wickets here. At the CCI,he picked up wickets with both new and old ball. He had produced a sharp reverse-swinging delivery into Wriddhiman Saha to dismiss him in the first essay and employed a perfect off-cutter to get rid of Abhinav Mukund on the third day.

With Stuart Broad for company,it will be Andersons responsibility to strike early blows against the hosts. He is likely to be used in short bursts,and his ability to use the ageing SG ball will be a crucial factor too. At CCI,he rarely operated at full tilt,and instead looked to get warmed up to the humid climes.

But it will be in Bresnans direction that skipper Alastair Cook is sure to look whenever his team is in need for a spark over the next month and a half. Like he did at the Brabourne Stadium as England ticked most off the boxes.

Brief scores: India A 369 amp; 124/4 Ajinkya Rahane 54,Murali Vijay 32,1/37 vs England XI Overnight 286 for 4 426 Alastair Cook 119,Samit Patel 104,Matt Prior 51,Tim Bresnan 33,Yuvraj Singh 5/94,Ashok Dinda 2/86.