ENGLAND confirmed their status as the number one Test team in the world by completing a 4-0 whitewash against India at the Oval.
Graeme Swann took 6-106 as England won the fourth Test by an innings and eight runs, having earlier enjoyed comfortable wins at Lord's, Trent Bridge and Edgbaston.
India arrived to these shores this summer as the world's number one side, having won the One-Day World Cup in April and with a points lead in the ICC Test rankings.
But England knew at the start of the series that, after their own excellent recent run of seven series wins and a draw from their last eight, victory by two clear matches would mean they would usurp the tourists at the top.
With that motivation, it was perhaps no surprise that England began well at Lord's. After a rainy first day, Kevin Pietersen hit a magnificent 202 not out as Andrew Strauss' men made 474-8 declared.
Stuart Broad, much improved from his travails against Sri Lanka, then took 4-37 as India crumbled to 283 all out despite Rahul Dravid's 103 not out.
India had only just avoided the follow-on, and so left England with a tactical headache of when to declare in the second innings.
But, thankfully for Matt Prior, he was given time to make his own 103 not out as the hosts recovered from 62-5 and 107-6 to set India an unlikely 458 runs to win.
Unsurprisingly, with almost four sessions left, India buckled as James Anderson secured the opening win with figures of 5-65 while Broad supported with 3-57 for fine match figures of 7-94.
The second Test at Trent Bridge proved to be the pivotal Test in the series. India won the toss for the second match in a row, again asking England to bat.
This time, their choice seemed correct under cloudy skies in Nottingham as Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth took three wickets each to bowl England out for 221.
On the afternoon of day two, India had reached 267-4, already a lead of 46 runs but then came the most inspired spell of the whole series.
Broad had been under pressure coming into this campaign after his aforementioned earlier struggles but he removed the dangerous Yuvraj Singh for 62 before taking a brilliant hat-trick, accounting for Harbhajan Singh, Kumar and Dravid.
Sharma was the final wicket to fall, also to Broad, who took his Test-best 6-46, and the lead was only 67 when it seemed as if it was going to be so much more.
Buoyed by this fact, England's batsmen flourished again on days three and four as the middle order all contributed to a huge second innings score of 544.
Ian Bell made 159, Prior 73, Eoin Morgan a much-needed 70 and Pietersen 63 before India were completely ground into the dust with some entertaining tail-end batting from Tim Bresnan (90) and Broad (44).
In the face of another big chase with more than five sessions left to survive, India struggled and collapsed to 55-6.
Sachin Tendulkar, searching for his 100th Test century, and Harbhajan prevented the inevitable but eventually the tourists were all out for 158 as England won by 319 runs with a day to spare.
At Edgbaston in the third Test, England finally won the toss. But, unlike India who had failed to convert this advantage, Strauss' men went for the jugular.
Broad and Bresnan took four weeks apiece, with Anderson taking two, as the Indians fell to 224 all out shortly after tea on the first day.
Captain MS Dhoni (77) was the only player to provide much in the way of resistance and, by close of play, England were 84-0, already closing in on India's total.
Openers Strauss and Alastair Cook were in need of a contribution in this series but the latter reprised his form from last season's Ashes series Down Under on day two.
Cook batted all through the second day before eventually making 294 on the third, sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 222 with Eoin Morgan who made 104.
Strauss had made 87, Pietersen 63 and even Bresnan contributed 53 not out before England made yet another declaration, this time on 710-7, immediately after Cook departed.
Classic scoreboard pressure left India in a hopeless position as they collapsed to 116-6 at lunch.
Once again, Dhoni (74 not out) showed some fight but, once again, England won inside four days by a massive margin of an innings and 242 runs.
When Bresnan took the final wicket of Sreesanth, England became the official number one team in the world. This huge victory made a truly fitting way in which to achieve that status.
However, perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this England side is that one innings victory per series now does not seem to be enough.
After three innings wins in the away Ashes victory, England completed the whitewash at the Oval by again only having to bat once.
That came in the first innings as Strauss and Cook survived overcast conditions to take the home side to 75-0 at the close of a curtailed first day.
The openers were out early on the second day but England were utterly dominant for the rest of it as Bell (235) and Pietersen (175) shared a third-wicket stand of 350 runs.
England eventually declared on 591-6 but, such was the weakness of the Indian attack, there was a feeling that Prior and Ravi Bopara could have probably batted for the rest of the match.
Rain had forced England's hand, though, and they had made the right choice to declare when they did, reducing India to 105-5 by the close of day three.
India showed some hitherto barely seen fight on day four, reaching 300 for the first time in seven attempts in the series, thanks mainly to the watchful batting of Dravid (146 not out).
But, the fact that the tourists made 300 and no more allowed England to enforce the follow-on and reduce India to 129-3 at stumps on the fourth day.
Day four at the Oval had been hard graft for England's bowlers but they had still succeeded in taking eight wickets in the three sessions.
The last day of the series looked as if it was going to be tough again as India reached lunch unscathed with thoughts of a hard-fought draw to finish the series.
However, that possibility proved fanciful as the England attack found its bite after the interval.
Nightwatchman Amit Mishra - with a creditable 84 - was out first and followed quickly by Tendulkar who fell just short of his landmark on 91, lbw to Bresnan.
Before those wickets, at 263-3, India had been just 29 runs short of forcing England to bat again.
But the innings victory was achieved as Suresh Raina, with a pair, Dhoni and Gautum Gambhir, both on three, RP Singh on 0 and Sreesanth on six all departed quickly.
India were 283 all out and England had won with a whole session to spare in yet another incredibly ruthless performance.
SERIES STATISTICS
Npower Test series: ENGLAND 4-0 INDIA
First Test Lord's England 474-8 dec & 269/6 dec beat India 286 & 261 by 196 runs Scorecard
Second Test Trent Bridge England 221 & 544 beat India 288 & 158 by 319 runs Scorecard
Third Test Edgbaston England 710-7 dec beat India 224 & 244 by an innings and 242 runs Scorecard
Fourth Test The Oval England 591-6 dec beat India 300 & 283 by an innings and eight runs Scorecard
ICC World Test rankings
ENGLAND 125
South Africa 118
India 117
Sri Lanka 108
Australia 100
Pakistan 93
West Indies 89
New Zealand 78
Bangladesh 8
ENGLAND: Test match series results since summer 2009
WWDWDLWDWDLWWWWWWLWDWLWWWDDWWWW
Tests P31 W20 D7 L4
Test series P9 W8 D1 L0
May 2009 England 2-0 West Indies
Jul-Aug 2009 England 2-1 Australia
Dec 2009-Jan 2010 South Africa 1-1 England
Mar 2010 Bangladesh 0-2 England
May-Jun 2010 England 2-0 Bangladesh
Jul-Aug 2010 England 3-1 Pakistan
Nov 2010-Jan 2011 Australia 1-3 England
May-Jun 2011 England 1-0 Sri Lanka
Jul-Aug 2011 England 4-0 India
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