England v India: Tendulkar falls short as Swann completes whitewash

Strauss can contemplate an autumn of rest, and plotting for a successful campaign against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates early next year, after England signed off for 2011 with another innings victory.

Graeme Swann (6-106) showed his durability as well as significant skill to close out the match, after Sachin Tendulkar had fallen nine runs short of becoming the first man in history to complete 100 international hundreds.

India were bowled out for 283 to lose by an innings and eight runs, with more than a session unused in the fourth npower Test at The Oval, despite Tendulkar and nightwatchman Amit Mishra’s defiant stand of 144 for the third wicket.

For several of England’s Test heroes, there will be little time to draw breath before the start of the NatWest Series of limited-overs matches against these same opponents in this country, and then a rematch in India in October.

But the captain will be inactive until January, once he has finished this season with Middlesex, and expects the glow of victory to last a while yet.

“I think it will keep me nice and warm, yes,” he said, not long before night started to draw in already at The Oval. “I think there’s quite a lot of fatigue – it’s been a long four Test matches.

“We’ve had to put a lot into it and certainly in this game.

“It was another very professional performance.”

England were already top of the International Cricket Council world rankings after last week’s landslide victory at Edgbaston, and Strauss was particularly pleased his team never threatened to ease up here.

“There is that temptation to take your foot of the gas a little bit – and then in actual fact we probably had to work harder for this one than any of the others, because we had to spend so long in the field having made them follow on,” he said.

“I’m very proud of the way the guys have reacted this week.

“There have been some outstanding performances again; Ian Bell’s 200 was a genuinely classy innings and obviously took the game away from India, and then the bowlers had to put in some really hard graft on a pretty flat wicket.”

Swann had endured a chastening summer while others took the majority of the wickets on green pitches.

“It was fantastic to see Graeme Swann coming through with his wickets, but also the way the seamers backed him up,” added the captain.

“The wickets have been more responsive to seam bowling, so this was the first one that helped him out.

“He had to toil pretty hard; certainly when the ball got softer and older it was hard work for him as well.

“I think the way he stuck at it – he kept creating chances for us, which was fantastic – he got what he deserved, which was a five-wicket innings.”

England held their own private celebration near the Oval square, with chilled drinks in a picnic cool box, long after the adulation had died down and a sell-out crowd had made their way home.

Strauss is in no doubt they deserve to reflect on a job very well done after their fourth innings victory of an undefeated year.

“That’s what I’m most proud about – the guys were prepared to do that even when they didn’t really have to. I think that bodes well for the future.

“It’s fantastic to receive that (ICC) mace and be No 1 in the world, but we’re all very conscious that can be taken away from us quite quickly.

“As I said after Edgbaston, we’re going to be judged by higher standards now and we need to keep pushing ourselves to improve and get better.

“It’s the nature of international cricket that you’re always looking forward to the next challenge,” he said.

“Rightly, I think we should celebrate the fact that we’ve had a fantastic Test match summer.

“We’ve had plenty of questions asked of us, and we’ve answered those questions.

“But we’ve got to start looking towards the winter now, firstly in the one-dayers and then the Tests after Christmas,” added the England captain.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni struggled to summon that level of optimism, as he nonetheless vowed to soldier on – in a press conference conducted to the strains of Rule Britannia and England’s ongoing celebrations outside.

“We thought there was a situation where we would defend this game and push it for a draw,” he said.

“But we lost quick wickets, and were not able to build partnerships.

“We shouldn’t take anything away from the English side, who played very good cricket over the last four Tests.

“I don’t believe in surrendering. This job was given to me when I wasn’t expecting it – I am giving it my best shot.”