Winners (and Winners)

There were a number of winners at Old Trafford: England, who finally wrapped up a series they always seemed destined to win, Monty Panesar, who took six more wickets on the way to his first ten-wicket Test match, and Steve Harmison who finally, finally, seemed to be getting back to somewhere near his best. The balls which put paid to Taylor and Edwards were fresh out of his heyday, circa 2004.

But the biggest winner of all, in my opinion, was Chanderpaul. His typically resolute and utterly magnificent century didn't secure victory (do they ever?) but he showed again why he's fit, despite all the illusory rough edges, to be spoken of in the same breath as his nation's greatest batsmen.

He's his own man, though. Not the power of Lloyd, Kanhai or Kallicharran - just heaps of rough-hewn Guyanese technique leavened with timing, dedication and courage.

With Lara gone for good and Sarwan out he's carrying the weight of the side on his tiny shoulders and he's doing it well.

The West Indies lost but the way they came back in the second innings seemed like a victory of sorts, however tiny and irrelevant.

Maybe there's hope.