Time for some positive thinking

England do not need to hit the panic button just yet despite losing their first home Test series since the 2001 Ashes.

Under the new regime of head coach Peter Moores, they needed a good summer after a miserable winter in Australia and a poor World Cup.

They made an impressive start with a 3-0 win over a weak West Indies side and were set to win the first Test against India at Lord's before rain wrecked their chances.

However, they were comprehensively outplayed in the next two Tests and would have lost outright control of second place in the ICC Test Championship rankings had they not held off Rahul Dravid's side at The Oval.

Some fans are worried about England's plight, but captain Michael Vaughan saw some positive signs and is probably right to feel upbeat about the future.

But in reality there are some areas of concern which Vaughan and Moores will need to address ahead of the winter tour of Sri Lanka.

The absence of a strike bowler was telling against the Indians and they will hope Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison are fit and firing for the matches against Sri Lanka.

On the plus side, their absences gave Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Chris Tremlett an opportunity to shine.

Ultimately, they were not quite good enough to take 20 wickets in a match and were outdone by India's pace attack, but they should become better players for the experience.

On the batting front, openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook both had their struggles - as individuals and also as a partnership.

Any team needs a solid foundation in order to build a big score but England failed to make more than 400 in any of their first innings against India.

Strauss has a technical problem, is low on confidence and could well be rested for the trip to Sri Lanka.

He is good enough to overcome this blip while Cook, who has six Test centuries to his name and is still only 22, has the talent and the dedication, not to mention the support of England legend Graham Gooch, to get better and better.

As for the middle-order, it is also struggling to fire.

Too many players showed poor shot selection and got out when looking set for a big score.

Perhaps they will learn from the example of Sachin Tendulkar, who preferred to be hit by short balls rather than risk getting out.

England appeared to have unearthed a gem in wicket-keeper Matt Prior when he made a century on his Test debut against the West Indies at the start of the summer.

But he struggled badly against India.

Dropped catches at Trent Bridge and The Oval showed he is not yet good enough at this level and he has probably learnt that incessant verbals can backfire on you and make you look stupid.

Aged 25, the Sussex man has time to improve and will have the backing of the selectors for the time being, but The Oval crowd were pretty unforgiving and he has heaped unnecessary pressure on himself.

After Prior comes the tail - and that is too long.

England need to unearth a credible number eight and may have missed a trick in not blooding Leicestershire's Stuart Broad - a player Gooch rates as a future number seven Test batsman - against India.

Finding a second spinner to support Monty Panesar in spin-friendly Sri Lanka will also be a problem.

There are no outstanding candidates, unless you count 19-year-old Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who is also a talented bat.

The return of all-rounder Flintoff, after a third ankle operation, will obviously help strengthen England but he may not be the panacea people think.

He can turn matches with his bowling but his recent batting displays have not been good enough for a Test number six.

However, in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka in November and December, England will want to play him there to enable them to pick a balanced bowling attack of three seamers and two spinners.

There are plenty of issues for Vaughan and Moores to think about, but at least they will head off to Sri Lanka in a fairly upbeat mood after a spirited final day at The Oval.

It will be another tour with a steep learning curve and England may only come away intact if they can successfully handle the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan.

Source: BBC Sport