So, what do I know?

England's transformation from the bedraggled mob that trudged from the field after the first test to the swashbuckling XI that won the second test by 10 wickets may not signify a complete change in fortunes for the touring team but certainly represents a dramatic step forward.

England ruthlessly completed a memorable 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test in Mumbai to level the four-match series. Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann shared the last three India second-innings wickets in 45 minutes on the fourth morning to bowl the hosts out for 142.

England openers Alastair Cook and Nick Compton then knocked off a target of 57 with ease before lunch.

It is only England's second Test win in India in 14 matches since 1985.

England's spectacular all-round performance was the perfect antidote to their meek showing in the first Test and ignites the series with two matches to play.

The recalled Panesar made a mockery of the decision to leave him out in Ahmedabad with a Test-best 11 wickets in the match as 19 of the 20 India wickets fell to spin, while Cook and Kevin Pietersen scored brilliant hundreds to secure a crucial first-innings lead of 86.

Man of the match Pietersen's assault on the India bowling on his way to 186 on Sunday afternoon was particularly important, demoralising the hosts and filling England with confidence.

Panesar and Swann, who outbowled India's three spinners throughout, followed up with seven wickets on the third evening to ensure it was always likely to be a matter of when, rather than if, England would finish the job on Monday.

Leading by 31 with only three wickets in hand, India took 10 off the first over of the day but Harbhajan Singh fell in the next when he gloved Swann to Jonathan Trott at slip.

Zaheer Khan top-edged a slog-sweep and was easily taken by Matt Prior to give Panesar figures of 6-81, before opener Gautam Gambhir was trapped lbw for 65 by Swann, who finished with 4-43 - and 8-113 in the match.

Fears of a scenario reminiscent of Abu Dhabi in January when England collapsed to 72 all out chasing a modest 145 to beat Pakistan were quickly dispelled as Cook and Compton set about their 

task with relish.

Compton, playing his second Test, cracked four fours and a six in making 30 not out from 28 balls and Cook posted an unbeaten 18 as the tourists cantered home.

England's first win in six Tests leaves the series tantalisingly poised going into the third match in Kolkata starting on 5 December, with the finale in Nagpur to follow.

England have not won a series in India since David Gower's side came from behind to seal a 2-1 triumph in 1985.

Back, back, back...

Sorry about that. We got a bit distracted, where were we?

Oh yes, England marching forward to Test glory. Day 2 of the second Test and KP has just crunched his way to another landmark. 6,000 test runs. As many people will be happy to point out, he now only needs another 9,000 to draw level with The Little Master. However, KP's achievement shouldn't be brushed under the carpet, he is a fine cricketer and there is nothing to stop him becoming England's leading run scorer.

So, as I write Pietersen is a mere 177 not out. not bad for an off-spinner!

From the Captain's mess #10

2nd Test – Day Four

Test All-rounder (!) Kevin Pietersen struck with the final ball of day four to put England on course for victory in the second Test against Australia in Adelaide.

Pietersen had Michael ‘The Choker’ Clarke caught at short-leg for 80 as the home side ended on 238-4, still 137 runs behind. England had declared on 620-5 after adding 69 in nine overs, Pietersen out for a Test-best 227 and Ian Bell on 68.

Graeme Swann took two wickets but after rain Choker and Mike Hussey took their stand to 104 before the late drama. With bad weather also forecast for the final day of the match, the decision to bat on by England skipper Andrew Strauss with his side already 306 ahead was questionable.

But Pietersen hammered the second ball of the day to the cover fence and added another boundary to surpass his previous best of 226 before a slog sweep skewed off the bottom of the bat to slip to give beleaguered left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty a welcome wicket. It also ended Pietersen's 116-run partnership with Bell, the fourth successive century stand of the innings, a feat achieved only twice before in Test history. Bell played some majestic strokes including a straight drive for six in his 25th Test fifty as England reached a total of 600 for only the second time in a Test match in Australia.

Matt Prior added a cameo 27, saved from his second duck of the series by a referral to the TV umpire after he was given out lbw to Peter Siddle and also when a top edge fell to safety as Ricky Ponting and Marcus North feared a collision and left the catch to each other.

That, combined with the sight of Simon Katich limping after the ball like an elderly war veteran because of a badly swollen Achilles, gave the Australians the despondent air of a beaten side.

But Katich rejected the option of a runner and with opening partner Shane Watson adopted a positive approach when it was their turn to bat. They took 17 from the first two overs, and with James Anderson and Stuart Broad failing to impress, Strauss soon turned to off-spinner Swann after nine overs. Swann made the breakthrough soon after lunch when Katich got the faintest of edges pushing forward and was caught behind for 43.

His dismissal brought in Ponting on a king pair after a first-ball dismissal on the opening day, but he opened his account from his 13th delivery with a stylish punch off the back foot for four when Swann dropped a fraction short. The Australia captain, who has eight Test centuries against England, the most recent of which came in the first Test of the 2009 series, aggressively swept another boundary despite the ball from Swann spitting out of the rough.

The next delivery pitched on an identical length but was a fraction straighter and when Ponting lunged forward, it held its line, took the edge and Paul Collingwood scooped up an excellent catch at slip. With their captain gone for nine, Australia could have folded, but Watson reached his 13th Test fifty with his ninth four, a thumping drive down the ground off Broad who was clearly troubled by a stomach injury.

Once again, however, Watson failed to convert his start into a century when he edged a useful delivery from the persevering Steven Finn low to Strauss in a solitary slip position and departed for 57. The skies darkened and held up play for 55 minutes, but once they had cleared, England were able to send down a further 19 overs before the close.

It seemed, however, that their hopes of further success would be dashed when Choker was given out caught at slip on 67 but he immediately called for the decision to be reviewed and replays showed the ball had touched nothing but his pad. Australia's vice-captain continued to play in bold fashion but might have fallen twice in successive balls as Swann continued to pose problems with sharply turning deliveries from wide of off-stump. One extremely difficult chance rebounded off the knee of Alastair Cook at short-leg and the next ball looped into a gap in the close-in field after flicking his glove. Hussey, meanwhile, dispatched a full toss from Swann for six but was fortunate to see a ball dribble agonisingly back past the stumps from the angled face of his bat as he reached 44 not out.

Pietersen was given two overs to try his luck and the change paid off for Strauss as he found sharp turn and bounce to force Choker back, with his defensive push bouncing up off the thigh pad to be smartly taken by Cook over his shoulder at short-leg. Choker was initially given not out but the referral confirmed the ball had hit the face of the bat - the batsman later weakly apologising on Twitter for not walking.

It was Pietersen's fifth Test wicket and by far the most important, but England will be up against both the remaining Australian batsmen and the elements as they seek to secure a 1-0 lead in the series.

From the Captain's mess #9

2nd Test – Day Three


KP struck an imperious unbeaten 213 as England built a massive 306-run lead on day three of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide.

Mr Pietersen hit a six and 31 fours as England made 551-4 before rain arrived at tea and prevented any further play. Alastair Cook went for 148 during the morning, but Paul Collingwood (42) and Ian Bell (41 not out) kept Pietersen company in stands of 101 and 99. It was the first time England had passed 500 in successive Ashes innings. Pietersen's double century was only the seventh by an England batsman in Australia and a magnificent return to form by the 30-year-old former captain, who was left out of the one-day team at the end of the English domestic season.

He was back to his dominant best as he completed his first Test hundred since March 2009 in the sixth over of the day, having resumed on 85 not out.
Only barrel-chested Ryan Harris posed a serious threat to Pietersen, surprising him with a well-directed rising delivery which flew past his nose and then tempting him into a hook shot which resulted in a top edge that fortunately landed in space on the leg-side.

Harris captured the one wicket to fall before lunch when Cook, having batted for 1,058 minutes since his dismissal in the first innings of the opening Test in Brisbane, got an inside edge to one that nipped back and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin took an excellent catch low to his right having initially been wrong-footed.
Despite his departure, the runs continued to flow, prompting Australia captain Ricky Ponting to try a 7-2 off-side field, but Pietersen merely stepped across and whipped Doug Bollinger from off-stump to the mid-wicket boundary.

And when Ponting put men out on the leg-side boundary during a spell by Peter Siddle, Pietersen accepted the challenge by disdainfully putting away two premeditated pull shots for four in the swaggering style of a baseball champion.
Siddle, his first Test hat-trick now a distant memory, did produce one delivery which swerved like a boomerang as it passed the stumps and went for four byes, but generally there was little assistance for the labouring Australian seamers.
Ponting then turned to his left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, but he could only find turn when pitching closer to the edge of the cut strip than the stumps and was hit for two fours in his opening over.

Xaviera Hollander was unable to provide the control his captain was looking for and was launched down the ground for six by Pietersen, a shot measured at 103 metres, as he again failed to live up to the hopes of the selectors, who laughably preferred him to Nathan Hauritz at the start of the series. The expanding patches of rough created by left-arm seamer Bollinger were more suited to off-spinner Marcus North, who was given 18 overs and turned some deliveries sharply, a fact that will not have escaped the notice of England spinner Graeme Swann and which makes Australia's task in trying to save the game even harder. But Pietersen swept two fours off North in the final over before lunch, piercing two fielders barely 20 yards apart on the fence as England took their lead to 204 at the interval.

Australia made a breakthrough in the third over of the afternoon session when Collingwood was pinned on the crease and adjudged plumb lbw to Shane Watson for a well constructed 42. Bell settled quickly, however, and the only discomfort for Pietersen was an apparent hamstring niggle sustained as he pushed for the single to take him to 200. The home side appeared to have run out of ideas as Bell maintained the momentum with some delightful drives, cuts and pulls and he could well have become England's fifth centurion of the tour had the clouds not closed in and rain ended proceedings prematurely.

England's total when the umpires called a halt was, ironically, the same score on which they declared in the corresponding Test four years ago - which they eventually lost by six wickets. An indifferent forecast for the remainder of the match may make Andrew Strauss's calculations about when to call in his batsmen more difficult, but the tourists will still be confident of taking a 1-0 lead with three matches to play.

Meanwhile, Australia captain Ricky Ponting confirmed that opener Simon Katich would be fit to bat in their second innings despite suffering a heel injury while close fielding on the third day. He was forced to leave the field for a lengthy period to receive ice treatment.