Sunshine and sopor as England forced to cut the gung-ho stuff

Tough going in the heat as India seem to have achieved what no amount of public criticism ever has

- Andy Bull

High summer can be hard going at Lord's. It was tough enough on the spectators, who worked up a sweat just standing in the queues to get into the ground. If you had seats in the open terraces at the bottom of the Edrich, Compton and Mound Stands, where you get slow-roasted by the sun as it makes its way slowly above the pavilion, your best bet was to make for the shade round by the Nursery Ground. It was too darn hot to sit and watch cricket and a lot of the cricket wasn't worth watching anyway. The conditions meant the players seemed to be on a go-slow, England's run rate was sickly and India's over rate appeared, at one point, to have given up and died.