We should make a big score on this track, says bullish Bresnan

Tim Bresnan believes the pitch here is good enough for England's batsmen to build a substantial first-innings lead despite India mustering only 224 after being put in by Andrew Strauss.

"It looked like a good wicket to bowl on but it actually didn't do as much as we thought it would," Bresnan said after taking four wickets for 62 to follow his five-wicket haul in England's second Test win at Trent Bridge.

"The ball did not swing as much as at Trent Bridge and it is a bit slower, too, so it sits up a bit off the back of a length. To put them in and bowl them out for 224 is a very good day for us. Hopefully it will flatten out even more and we can get a decent lead."

Of the ball of the day, the one that bowled Rahul Dravid, Bresnan admitted he had only bowled better deliveries "in the nets."

"It did not do that much, but it was like my old coach Steve Oldham used to say – 'Top of off, kid, keep standing the ball up on the seam'. If you bowl in those areas often enough you are going to get balls that just do a bit like that."

Bresnan said the team had no worries about playing the match in a city hit by the disturbances and where the players were again expected to be confined to their hotel last night. "It is like anywhere else in the world where we play, if we are told it is safe we just concentrate on the game," he said.

Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach now looking after India, felt his players again struggled to cope with the conditions. "Even in my time here, I don't remember playing in three Tests in a row where the ball has swung around so much," he said.

"But we are not out of this match yet. If it doesn't swing and flattens out we have batsmen with 200s and 300s on their CV. And if it does become overcast again we have bowlers who can utilise those conditions."