Each wicket was greeted with huge wails which bordered on the delirious But their over-rate was disgraceful. If men had purveyed their overs so slowly, there would have been fines and hell to pay. Nor was the number of appeals from either side in line with protocol.England used nine bowlers, the most successful being the fast bowler Nicki Shaw, who took 3 for 74 from 27 overs. Not much suggested that they will match Australia and New Zealand one day soon.The hosts did not quite bat with the discipline needed to make the draw a stone-cold formality. Kathryn Leng fell early for the second time in the match soon after swatting a four to square leg which would have done Marcus Trescothick proud on this ground.

She was ensnared by a short ball tempting her to try something similar.India’s most entrancing bowler in every sense was the left-arm spinner Neetu David. Apparently she does not have the drift she once commanded but she has plenty of variety at the crease and gives it a lovely tweak. She was usually on the button for 27 long overs, having already delivered 38 in the first innings.Opener Charlotte Edwards was not daunted. She used her feet with assurance, and one extra-cover drive through a crowded infield was serene You just wondered at the point of it all Beauty for its own sake.

Edwards event-ually gave the charge to Bindeshwari Goyal and was inelegantly stumped for 56.Clare Connor played with a captain’s determination to ensure that the draw remained on course. She is a bristling middle-order batsman with a captain’s sense of propriety, and would have been disappointed to be caught at extra cover late in the afternoon It prompted India to think the unthinkable, a Test win No such luck But on and on they bowled.. At the risk of being allocated the next slot on the psychiatrist’s couch after Roy Keane, would it be wise for Manchester United to sell their captain while they still have the chance? Just a thought, based on the eternal sporting theory that no player is bigger than his club and the vague understanding that anyone who can lecture the world on the nature of commitment while going absent from a World Cup clearly needs a change of air. Keane has voiced the thought of a move himself, in his autobiography: “Another club, somewhere sunny. At least I could be miserable in a warm climate.” Not Celtic then.

Keane is 31, his market value remains high and it is probable that his best playing days are behind him. On the evidence of last season, his influence in the United dressing-room is on the wane, which is not surprising There is only so much ear-bashing a generation can take. Handed the responsibility of anchoring England’s midfield, Nicky Butt flourished. Last Wednesday night, he was on the substitutes’ bench with Paul Scholes, another who plays better for country than club.Yet United resolutely keep faith with the myth of Keano. The extracts of his autobiography concentrate quite naturally on the confrontations. He would be the first to give someone stick in the dressing-room if they’d done something similar.”That is quite some baggage to be hauling into the United changing-room every morning and, at some point, it must enter the thoughts of Sir Alex Ferguson, whose own role in the elevation of Keane has to be questioned, that the balance between trouble and worth is less easily calculated now that trophies are becoming more elusive.