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England have just been bowled out for 237 with ten balls left to start the second ODI. It doesn’t look like a good score and paper and I very much doubt that it will be in fact. Though to be fair, England were 0-2 to start with neither Cook nor Kieswetter scoring. Ian Bell did not play, contrary to my hopes, (though not my expectations). Most of the damage today was done by the seamers, however, so Bell might not have been such an asset.

England did bat better than they did on Friday, but this time their middle order got in and got out consistently. After the two opening ducks the lowest score was Trott’s 34 (off 37 balls, the fastest of the recognised batsmen) and the highest was KP’s 46. On Friday it was brainless, today it was just lazy. The bowling was reasonably good, and just about good enough to take advantage of the lack of application shown by England’s batsmen.

Two hundred and thirty-seven may be enough, if England bowl better than they did on Friday, the pitch may deteriorate for Swann and Patel. They will have to take early wickets though, because as we saw on Friday if India have wickets in hand late they can be deadly.

The second India v England ODI starts in a few hours. England played poorly and were hammered in the first one, but I think they’ll do better this time. Andy Flower does not seem like the type to tolerate the kind of sloppiness England displayed throughout the first ODI and I’m sure there will have been a lot of work put in since then. England can take some hope from the fact that they also looked set to lose the first ODI in England before the rains came. England shook that off well, so we know England can certainly come back in this series.

Beyond the obvious ‘playing better’ the biggest thing I think that England can do to improve today is to play Ian Bell. On the face of it, the decision not to play him in the first ODI makes sense. Although he has matured into one of the most elegant test batsmen in the world right now, his ODI record is distinctly mediocre. He is, however, the best player of spin in the England side. England looked set to make a game of it on Friday before collapsing to India’s spinners. There are other things that England could do and may do, but I think this is the most important.

Of course, to do so is to bring up the question of who should be dropped in Bell’s favour. Kevin Pietersen has had the least success in ODIs recently, but after sitting out the home series it would be a shock if he missed another one. KP also has the ability to take a match away from the opposition, even if he hasn’t been showing it in ODIs recently. India would probably love to see him dropped, so I would keep him in. There have been a lot of suggestions that Trott should be dropped, as he bats too slowly. This is a bit harsh though, it’s more the case that he bats steadily. His career strike rate is is 78, which isn’t blistering, but it’s respectable, especially coupled with his career average of 51. Kieswetter may be an option. He’s in the side because of his ability to hit out at the top of the order, but he rarely goes on after making a start. Jonny Bairstow, who looks like getting an extended run after an excellent start to his career, is naturally a wicketkeeper so Kieswetter could be dropped on the basis of his batting. Dropping Bopara would be harsh, as he has settled into the ODI side and had an excellent summer.

Taking all that into consideration, I would at least experiment with dropping Kieswetter and promoting KP to open. England briefly tried that during the World Cup (before KP left with an injury) and it went reasonably well. KP scored at better than a run a ball against India and Ireland and only failed against South Africa in a match where almost every batsman failed. I would keep Trott at three and put Bell at four. Bairstow would then keep and bat sixth. Another possibility to consider is dropping Samit Patel and playing with one fewer bowler. I don’t really like this, as it would leave England with just one spinner and force Bopara, Pietersen and possibly Bell himself to bowl ten overs between them. Were anyone to be dropped purely on performance, however, it would likely be Patel.

I doubt any of this will actually happen. Kieswetter is established in his role as keeper, and hasn’t failed so badly that he would be dropped on his own merits (or lack thereof). But more than that, Andy Flower has tended to stick with sides and not make rash changes. On the whole I applaud this, but in a five match series England cannot afford another drubbing. Ian Bell represents England’s best change of negating India’s spin and I think it is a mistake not to play him.

And win quite comfortably, in fact. It’s the first time they have beaten England since the first test of the 2008 series, way back in the KP/Moores era. It’s the first time they’ve beaten anyone since beating the West Indies before the England tour.

I think, however, that England played poorly more than India played well. England’s bowling and fielding were sloppy throughout the innings. They bowled eighteen wides and had a fair number of overthrows and misfields. Despite this, when Kohli was caught in the 29th over it made the score only 123-4. For almost thirty overs England kept India under five runs an over, but when Raina came to the crease and India took the batting powerplay England’s defiance slipped away like a shady character in a film. England haemorrhaged 174 runs in the last twenty overs of the match and went from being in a strong position to needing 301 to win. Dhoni got Man of the Match for his 87 not out off 70 balls, but I thought Raina’s innings may have been more important. Raina came in with India under a lot of pressure and responded by scoring 61 off 55. By the time he holed out the floodgates were open and Dhoni could play with the sort of abandon we saw him employ so well after top order collapses during the test series.

As bad as England’s collapse with the ball was, the collapse with the bat was almost worse. England lost Kieswetter and Pietersen in the powerplay, (for 7 and 19 respectively) but still came out a reasonable 48-2. With Cook and Trott at the crease they had the men they needed to set a platform and set about doing so. Cook brought up a run a ball fifty, whilst Trott played more circumspectly (as he is wont to do). England had recovered to 111-2 when Cook suffered a rush of blood and holed out against the spinner Jadeja for 60 off 63. Two overs later Trott tried an ugly sweep off the same bowler and was bowled. This left England in almost the same position in which India had been at 120-4 in the 25th over. Unlike India, the subsequent attempt to counterattack and loosen the shackles just resulted in Bopara and Bairstow departing in successive overs (a total of four wickets in five overs). Both went to fairly careless shots, attempting to drive a spinner, mistiming it and presenting a simple return chance. The tail never really stood a chance of rescuing England, though only Swann lost his wicket in a manner that could not be described as ‘brainless’. England were bowled out for 174 with eight of their batsmen giving their wickets away.

The only consolation for England is that we know they can play better, and it reasonable to think that in the next match they will. If they had played better today they would have had a good chance of winning and it certainly would have been close. Unfortunately for England, now India have their confidence properly restored and will likely play better themselves. I think it will be a better series from here, but I also think that England may have blown any chance they had of winning it.