England vs West Indies 1st Test Review

And so it began : the fabled ‘red ball reset’. The last year has been a traumatic period for England’s test team - one win in 14; only two non-Root hundreds in the last 17 games; a high score of just 297 across 10 Ashes innings and records set for both ducks and losses in a calendar year. This week was heralded as the start of a new era : a time for fresh batting and bowling talent to stake a claim, even if it meant leaving out two all-timers. England may not have managed to begin with victory, but several positives and negatives burned brightly nonetheless. Here I consider if we can consider this a hopeful time or yet another false dawn.

Naturally, after the horrors of recent times, changes were made to the top order : doing away with the old guard of Burns and Malan in favour of a new-look Lees-Crawley opening partnership with Root returning to the poisoned chalice of first-drop, supposedly of his own volition. Similarly, Dan Lawrence and Ben Foakes are set for extended runs in the side after patience ran out for Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler. For the most part these changes were a success. England managed three centuries in a game for the first time since 2016 thanks to another rescue job from Jonny Bairstow along with Root and Crawley looking at home in their new positions.

Zak Crawley came good in the second innings, piling on the runs alongside skipper Root
Image : bbc.co.uk/sport

However, it would be premature to believe this success will continue elsewhere. The pitch looked placid throughout, offering little besides a little uneven bounce, and the Windies had no high quality spinner to maintain pressure, allowing Root and Crawley to proceed with ease. Despite this, they still have to score the runs and these centuries will boost moral no end, particularly Bairstow’s as the team showed great resilience in fighting back from 48-4. Unfortunately, debutant Alex Lees did not have the same success as the excellence of Kemar Roach proved too much for the left-hander in both innings.

Although changes were made to the batting, these were expected and predictable - something which cannot be said of England’s bowling selections. To not play Broad and Anderson together is one thing, but to drop both of them altogether and instead have Chris Woakes and Craig Overton open the bowling is frankly absurd. The three (often unjustified) slights on Branderson have been their pace, their age and their abilities overseas yet England’s replacements are a 33-year-old who averages 55 outside England and a fringe player who bowls no quicker than they do. To say this is befuddling is an understatement.

Quite predictably, Woakes and Overton could not replicate their predecessors’ new-ball economy and just overs into the Windies innings, it already felt like Mark Wood or bust. At which point he got injured. Thankfully, it was not all doom and gloom in the bowling department as Ben Stokes and Jack Leach took up the slack and performed admirably in tough conditions. Leach in particular, although aided by a slow pitch and a right-hander heavy line-up, was vastly impressive, showing a superb level of control and should count himself unfortunate to have not picked up more wickets. The other side of this Wood injury is that it not only puts him in serious doubt for the remainder of the series, but put an unsafe workload on Stokes who, despite a whole-hearted effort, bowled 41 overs when just weeks ago, he may not have bowled at all.

Overall, the good outweighs the bad from this week in the West Indies but that does not mean it will be all smooth sailing for England going forward. Questions remain over so many aspects of the side : from the openers to the batting order, the bowling line-up to the injury list and even the captaincy and coaching. However, what this match does show is a team that has the talent and the will to succeed in spite of adversity and change, now they just need to bring the pieces together.

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