Demo job

Day 3 at Lord's

Preview

Rain gives us time to consider the first two days again. The match has gone so far England's way that only a gigantic West Indies revival can bring any joy. First, let us not be carried away by the Ravi Bopara innings or the Graham Onions wickets. If Bopara can hit a chanceless century and Onions bowl men out on a flat pitch we will applaud but I remember how successfully Ed Giddins and Nick Cook began and how little time they lasted.

To lunch

Only an hour's play but when three wickets fall in three overs just before the interval - meaning half the West Indies side are out - it's all over. Isn't it?

To tea

No, not quiet. Denish Ramdin and Brendan Nash put up a fight - until Stuart Broad bowled Ramdin - and none of us could be sure that the game would finish in three days. Of course we should have known. Remember that heroic fight by the Sri Lankans when they held out also at Lord's.

To an England win by ten wickets

Did it occur to the England fielders, as they watched Nash make 81 before he was last man out, that when the Ashes begin, they will face 11 cricketers with the good sense, bravery and innate knowledge of this little Aussie battler. No doubt some prattling fool in the dressing room kept repeating "a win is a win" but they will never have an easier one than this demolition job.