West Indies v England, 2nd Test, Preview: England Wield the Scalpel

 

West Indies v England

2nd Test, Preview: England Wield the Scalpel

January 30^th 2019

 

As many as five players might well have been hanging on news of the 2^nd Test squad. Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Adil Rashid, Ben Foakes and Moeen Ali might all have had reasons to fear the wielding of the axe. As it turns out, the selectors, sensibly, have chosen to make surgical changes, rather than play the axeman as some of the more radical fans would have them do. Sam Curran keeps his place in the XII, although it is possible that he will be the one left out tomorrow. The major change has been for Keaton Jennings to be dropped for the second and possibly final time in his career. Jennings has periods of form in which runs and centuries flow like a river in the spring thaw but, at Test level, seam bowling is finding him out. While, in County cricket, there are enough bad balls that he can make hay, at Test level the bowling is more persistent and less forgiving of errors. The point has been made though that the County game, which thirty years ago, offered exposure to the very best bowlers in world cricket (think of facing Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Richard Hadlee, Wasim Akram, Bishan Bedi, Muttiah Muralitharan, Imran Khan, Morne Morkel, Chris Cairns, …) now, due to the intensity of international tours, only features the very best players on an occasional basis and then, for a few weeks. It is no longer possible for a county such as Somerset to play stars of the class of Joel Garner and Viv Richards alongside Test players such as Ian Botham for the majority of games, season after season. There are many fine bowlers in County cricket but, for all the efforts of the two-division system to create intensity, the way that the Championship has been shunted into two halves, with early season games in April/May and late season games in late August and September, with hardly any games between, has not been conducive to developing all-round players. In a difficult situation, the selectors have taken a pragmatic, but highly risky approach in dropping Jennings with three games to go before the Ashes and replacing him with a non-specialist opener.

Joe Denly is a player who made a big impact early in his career. An attacking opener who broke into the limited overs set-up, playing 9 ODIs and 5 T20s in 2009/10, he was tipped for Test honours when at Middlesex, before he lost his way completely. Rescued by Kent, he averaged 40.9 in 2015, 38.6 in 2016, 55.5 in 2017 and then, 34.5 in 2018, supplemented by 23 wickets at 18.5. While his average in 2018 was affected by playing on some very sporty surfaces at home, playing a non-specialist as opener, who averaged under 35 last season in Division 2, is an extremely brave decision. If Denly were to fail, where do England go with just the match against Ireland before the Ashes? Alastair Cook has called the decision to bring in Denly “brave” and it is one that could backfire horribly. On the other hand, though, Denly is highly experienced and has gone through the mill. In a sense, he is regarded a safe pair of hands in a difficult situation. Not originally in the Test squad for Sri Lanka, he was drafted-in as a potential #3 and third spinner, but had a difficult time in the warm-ups and the plan was abandoned. What though is hard to understand, is England going to the Caribbean without a reserve opener given the pressure on Jennings and, to a slightly lesser degree, on Burns. However, it is an evident truth that there are no specialist openers crying-out for selection, although Sam Robson and Daryll Mitchell might disagree. The decision to go with Denly has a certain similarity to the promotion of a previous Kent specialist #3 to Test opener… a chap called Chris Tavaré, who made a decent fist of it in 18 of his 31 Tests.

The second change in the squad was widely expected, but has been dressed-up discretely. Adil Rashid was expected to lose his place, so has been given leave to return to the United Kingdom to be with his wife for the birth of his second child, due during the Test. Jack Leach, who should probably have been in the team for the 1^st Test replaces him. However, it is far from certain that Leach will play. England are likely to recall Stuart Broad and play four seamers, with Sam Curran dropping to fourth seamer. In this case, Moeen Ali will be the lone spinner, supported by the part-time tweak of Joe Root and Joe Denly. However, if the pitch, expected to be low and slow, looks likely to take spin, England could well drop Curran, who looked well off the pace both with bat and ball in Barbados and play three seamers and two specialist spinners. England misread the Barbados pitch; they cannot afford to misread this one.

What everyone – even the West Indies – is expecting is an England reaction. However, Caribbean cricket has been severely slighted by some of the pre-tour comments and would be quite inclined to serve up two shirt fronts on which a result would not be possible in six days, let alone five, to protect their series lead. Sir Geoffrey though, as is his want, has made light of his faux pas and suggested that the West Indians carry him around in their kit-bag to gee them up… it has worked here… in spades! England have to win both remaining Tests to win the series and have to make the pace in Antigua.

West Indies v England, 1st Test, Day 4: Implosion and the Fifteenth Largest Defeat by Runs in Test History

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 4: Implosion and the Fifteenth Largest Defeat by Runs in Test History

January 26^th 2019

 

With England 215-4, five minutes before Tea and two set batsmen at the crease, England should have been setting their sights on taking the match well past Lunch on the last day. Victory was impossible, but an honourable defeat was well within reach. Who knows? Some rain and a bit of bloody-mindedness and an incredible escape might even be possible.

Reality was that two wickets fell to poor shots in twelve deliveries and England went to Tea knowing that it was all over bar the shouting.

The last six wickets fell for 31 runs in 71 balls. It was a miserable collapse on a pitch that had flattened-out, against a spinner who did not spin the ball.

The final margin was 381 runs. The largest ever margins of defeat by runs are listed here.

It was all so unnecessary. Burns and Jennings had continued where they had left off the night before. For fifty-two balls of the morning session, Jennings blocked-up an end and Burns accumulated busily at the other. It was the best opening partnership for a year and a half. Had it continued for an hour longer, the great escape could have become a reality. Burns looked set for a century. Jennings looked to have done the hard work and set up a big score for the taking. Leaden-footed waft. Thanks very much. And an end was open.

All the top six got starts, but only Rory Burns past 34 and he gave his wicket away too, just before the fifty partnership with Jonny Bairstow. Gave it away, as did all the top eight.

In the harsh light of a huge defeat, some fans are calling this the worst England side ever. It is not. This side beat India and Sri Lanka and had won six of its previous seven Tests. But it is a side with a couple of key weaknesses. And the team that was picked was not the one for this pitch. England misread the pitch completely and probably relied on winning the Toss and batting.

In the cold light of day, Sam Curran’s 14, 17 did not compensate for match figures of 29-4-133-1. Even had Stuart Broad scored a king pair, there is a feeling that he would have got much more out of the pitch than Sam Curran and kept down the West Indian first innings score. However, before we get all misty-eyed, Stuart Broad is not the player he was 5 or 6 years ago. He has brilliant performances with the ball, but they are becoming rarer. The fans have been questioning his continued selection for about as long as one can remember.

Probably Broad will play in Antigua, where a low, slow pitch is expected that will most-likely not suit him at all. Sam Curran’s selection was down to the idea that he could provide variety in the attack, a holding role, knocking-over wickets with the new ball and plenty of runs down the order. Now, the Curran bubble has burst: with his lack of speed, can he take wickets when not faced with a seaming, swinging greentop? Can he convert himself into a solid batsman in the lower middle order and fourth seamer?

We will never know what would have happened had Stuart Broad played. Maybe he would have had one of his nightmare matches in which he can find neither line nor rhythm. Or maybe he would have taken 6-20 on the first morning. You can play “what if” all you like.

The other two positions that are looking wide open for the 2^nd Test are that of Keaton Jennings and of Adil Rashid.

I am a fan of both, but it is hard to see how either can play at Antigua. England have three Tests before the Ashes and one of them is a four-day match against Ireland. The selectors have to cut their losses with Jennings and either say that he will play the 1^st Test against Australia WHATEVER HAPPENS, or play his replacement. It is just possible that Jennings will play the 2^nd Test and that a decision will be made after it, in which case, almost certainly Joe Denly – no longer now an opener – would debut in the final Test, unless a convenient injury allows an opener to be called-up from the Lions. Like so many recent openers for England, Jennings has trouble outside his off stump. Sam Robson was a classic example. Also, like so many openers tried by England, Jennings scored a century early in his Test career, seemed set for great things, and then faded away. There is something very Rob Key-like about Jennings: in his last 21 innings, he has reached double figures 17 times, but passed 40 just 4 times; his median score in those 21 innings is 17. In other words, Jennings is getting a start, getting in, almost every time, but then getting out. It is something that Rob Key did a lot – he had the occasional big innings where he broke big, but was never really in and could fall at any time.

However, for all his success last season in Division 2 on some frequently very difficult pitches, there is a feeling that it is too late for Joe Denly. I like him a lot as a cricketer and am delighted to see him back in England colours, but Denly would be another stop-gap as a non-specialist and a high-risk strategy. He was taken to Sri Lanka as a potential #3 and third spinner and proved to be so far off the pace that he could fill neither role, causing a change in selection strategy for the Tests.

The other decision is Adil Rashid or Jack Leach, although a case could be made for dropping Moeen Ali. Again, caution. Adil Rashid, like Moeen Ali, is polarising opinion. We forget that both have done great things for England and recently too. Adil Rashid will never be Shane Warne. He will always have innings and matches in which his control and direction simply do not exist. At the same time, he can bowl an awful spell, be sent into the naughty-boy outfield for three or four hours and then come back for a second spell and bowl a delivery that turns a match. England gambled on his ability to deliver a couple of explosive balls that change the momentum of a match.

Moeen, who has been messed around something rotten, shuffled up and down the order, is now on a bad trot with the bat. Even a return to batting at #8, where he has had some of his best innings, simply has not worked for him. He looks completely at sea. And, despite a spell with the ball in the second innings in which he briefly threatened to turn the match, he could not follow through. Moeen’s performances with the ball against India and Sri Lanka should make him un-droppable, but the fans are unforgiving… and have short memories… just ask Stuart Broad.

Would Jack Leach have done better than Adil Rashid? Would Rashid + Leach, Leach + Moeen, or Moeen + Adil Rashid have been the best combination? Going back thirty years, England had Edmonds and Emburey. Classic Slow Left Arm and Off-Break. They could attack, or bowl long holding spells and the fact that their stock ball went in opposite directions made them a powerful complementary force. It is not difficult to believe that Leach would have complemented Moeen better than Adil Rashid, even if he did not offer the prospect of that occasional, explosive ball. However, it is not hard to imagine that sooner, rather than later, Jack Leach will pair up with Dominic Bess in a Test in a partnership that could continue for fifteen years.

What to think of the West Indies performance? They were brilliant. They wanted it more. They out-played, out-fought and out-thought England. Despite years of conflict between players and Board. Despite cricket no longer being such a part of West Indian life. Despite First Class cricket in the Caribbean dying, brilliant cricketers come through. This time it has been 22-year-old Shimron Hetmyer with 81 in the first innings that set up a winning total for his side. Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Shane Dowrich and Royston Chase have added their names to the long list of players who have bloodied England in recent series between the two sides. Will this be yet another false dawn for the West Indies? You would not bet against it, although fans would love it to be the start of a genuine, sustained resurgence of West Indian cricket. As was pointed out before the series, the West Indian attack has a fine record over the last year. We knew that they would test the England batsmen: that much was no surprise. The question is: can the dysfunctional WICB keep its young players and not lose the older hands? This is its biggest problem. World cricket needs a strong West Indies side, but governance has been so poor over the last decade that one wonders whether or not yet another new dawn for Caribbean cricket will turn quickly again into black night.

The questions for England are: do they twist or stick with selection and, can they get back into this series?

Right now, England are 1-0 down and need to win both remaining Tests to win the series. They have also shown enough vulnerability to encourage the West Indies to produce result pitches for those two Tests.

 

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 3: And Now For Something Completely Different

January 25^th 2019

 

After 26 wickets fell for 493 runs on the first two days, 344 were scored on Day 3 and not a wicket fell. There was much about the day’s cricket that Monty Python, who immortalised the phrase “and now for something complete different”, would have approved of.

The West Indies started the day at 126-6, 337 ahead. Most pundits felt that the West Indies had more than enough and would be all out in the morning, leaving a target somewhere in the range 360-400. England’s only remote chance was to knock over the last four wickets very quickly. In fact, there was every chance that the match would be over by Tea. That was the theory. The practice was that Dowrich and Holder first consolidated and then, let rip. And as they let rip, England’s performance in the field disintegrated. Anderson and Stokes did beat the bat, but when a ball flew into the air, it did not go to hand. One particularly embarrassing error was Jos Buttler failing to see a ball flying almost straight at him and making no attempt to take the catch: the hapless Monty Panesar would have done better, even if Monty Python might not have. Holder reached a run-a-ball century before Dowrich had reached 40 and then continued onwards and upwards. Would he declare when Dowrich reached his century? No! At a lead of 600? No! He finally hit the boundary that brought up his 200 and turned for the pavilion. It was an exhibition of grinding the opponents into the dirt that Viv Richards would have approved of. Holder was ruthless and brilliant.

So, chasing a modest 628 to win, in a nominal 200 overs, England had 20 overs to survive and take the game into a fourth day, on which, clutching at straws, some rain is forecast. How many wickets would they lose? 4? 5? Jason Holder tried six bowlers, with Campbell getting prodigious turn, albeit from misdirected deliveries but, with Jennings blocking-out one end, Burns put bat to ball at the other. A 50 partnership in 18 overs and England reached the Close on 56-0, needing another 562 runs to win and without having suffered any major scares. The assumption that, once again, the wicket would behave differently for the West Indian bowlers with their extra pace, was confounded, at least for the moment. However, there is a long, long way to go to attain any kind of respectability. So far England have only got as far as avoiding the second largest margin of defeat by runs in Test history:

Team	Total	Overs	Run rate	Margin of defeat (runs)	Opponents	Ground	Date
Australia	66	25.3	2.58	675	England	Brisbane	30/11/1928
England	145	63.3	2.28	562	Australia	The Oval	18/08/1934
South Africa	171	40.2	4.23	530	Australia	Melbourne	17/02/1911
Australia	119	46.4	2.55	492	South Africa	Johannesburg	30/03/2018
Pakistan	72	31.3	2.28	491	Australia	Perth	16/12/2004
Bangladesh	158	49.2	3.20	465	Sri Lanka	Chattogram	3/01/2009
England	126	63.5	1.97	425	West Indies	Manchester	8/07/1976
Sri Lanka	236	106.2	2.21	423	New Zealand	Christchurch	26/12/2018
England	186	78.1	2.37	409	Australia	Lord's	24/06/1948
Australia	165	50.0	3.30	408	West Indies	Adelaide	26/01/1980
England	103	37.0	2.78	405	Australia	Lord's	16/07/2015

Defeats by more than 400 runs in Test cricket. There have been eleven so far: will this match provide a twelfth?

Just 11 sides out of 588 who have lost in the fourth innings of a Test, have lost by a margin greater than 400 runs. To avoid becoming a twelfth, England have to almost treble their first innings total. It is a tall order, but Burns and Jennings can do their self-confidence and England’s self-respect a lot of good, if they can hang around for a long time on Day 4.

West Indies v England - 1st Test, Day 2: Nightmare in the Caribbean

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 2: Nightmare in the Caribbean

January 24^th 2019

 

After the shenanigans with the new ball at the end of the day, it was hard to avoid the sinking feeling that England might have, yet again, fallen for a Caribbean sucker punch. Sadly, it did not take long for these suspicions to be confirmed. Time and again they have arrived with high hopes, had a nightmare start to the series and then been unable to make headway on a series of dead tracks designed for timeless Tests or, for those of a more conspiratorial disposition, to protect the West Indian series lead. The 2019 Caribbean tour took just four sessions to conform to that pattern. 30-1 at Lunch. All out and facing the Follow-on at Tea on Day 2. Yes, it’s good to be back in Barbados.

What was obvious was that the bowlers had to nip out the last two wickets quickly and retain the momentum because, if the West Indian bowlers found the same help that England had found, 280 might be an awfully useful-looking score by the end of Day 2. The sinking feeling was not helped by the way that young Shimron Hetmyer protected his partner, took the singles late in the over and hit what was there to be hit as the score crept up towards the 300-mark that should have been unattainable. An edge from a brutal Stokes bouncer flew past Ben Foakes’s desperate stretch, balls eluded edges, false shots fell safe. And all the while the wags were calling for Joe Root to throw the ball to Stuart Broad – yes, the same wags who have been calling for him to be dropped through most of his career. Huge outswinger from Stokes, nick, into the gloves, given… but nothing on UltraEdge on review. The bowlers could not bowl a maiden to Hetmyer to get a full over at Alzarri Joseph and when Ben Stokes finally did manage five consecutive dot balls, the last ball flew to the boundary to take Hetmyer into the 80s and the score ever-closer to the 300 that the West Indians wanted before the start. However, with Joseph in his sights, Jimmy Anderson made no mistake in the next over and a simple catch to Jos Buttler at 2^nd Slip gave him his twenty-seventh five-for. Five balls later, Stokes got Hetmyer to edge to Ben Foakes and the innings was over. For England, Anderson and Stokes were magnificent. For the West Indies, Hetmyer was immense: surely the WICB cannot manage to lose him to the Test side too through incompetence and mismanagement?

Once the tail had been dismissed, Jennings, Burns and Bairstow had to do their job. This was not going to be suitable for those of a nervous disposition. A confident start by Jennings strangely did nothing to calm nerves. Taking the lion’s share of the strike and doing almost all the scoring, he got a start, drove without due care and attention and was convicted at gully. Only three years ago, Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings had wonderful Test debuts in India and England supporters were thinking that they had a ready-made opening pair for the next decade or decade and a half: Hameed’s fortunes have only gone downward since he left that tour with a broken finger and an average of 9.7 for Lancashire in 2018 makes one wonder how much longer his county career will last without a sudden change of fortunes. Jennings has had two golden streaks in County cricket, each followed by a prolonged run-drought: the fans have lost patience, how long will England’s last? There is no doubt that, having tried so many openers since Andrew Strauss retired, England do not want to chop and change again, but nor can they afford to start an Ashes series with an opener desperately short on form and confidence. Plan A is to support him in public and hope that he gets enough runs on the tour to stop wagging tongues. Plan B is to hope that someone on the County circuit gets a thousand runs before the end of May as an opener. Having got a start in 16 of his last 20 Test innings, a single score of 50+ - albeit a monumental one in Sri Lanka – is no kind of return, but suggests that the issue is as much psychological as technical.

That said, as England staggered from 30-1 to 77 all out, Jennings’s 17 was comfortably (uncomfortably?) the top score of the innings and the opening partnership of 23, by some way the largest of the innings (the next best was 12). Things were put in sharp perspective as the West Indian openers put on a fifty opening partnership. A cynic would have said that they already had more than enough of a lead to win, but this was “grind their faces into the dirt time”. The next stage of this process will be to provide England with two low, slow shirtfronts for the 2^nd and 3^rd Test: yes, we have been caught this way before. The England opening attack, at a gentle low-80s, just did not have the pace, or the height to exploit the devil in the pitch. As in the first innings, it took the introduction of Moeen Ali to break the opening partnership. The difference this time was that, suddenly, the rhythm was there, the ball started to turn and, suddenly, it seemed that Moeen was bowling hand grenades in a minefield. With Ben Stokes getting seriously wound-up, 52-0 became 61-5, with four wickets falling for one run in fourteen balls. You really wish that the bowlers had shown this fight before the West Indies batsmen had got away from them the previous day. However, as England had, the West Indian batsmen decided to apply the long handle to counter the clatter of wickets and, unlike for England, it worked.

The clatter of wickets had to continue for England to have any remote chance and that meant removing Hetmyer. Easier said than done. A second fifty partnership in the innings, including a brutal assault on Adil Rashid’s first over and any fantasists who harboured thoughts of a great escape were sadly disabused of their notions. With a lead of 339 going into Day 3, the West Indies will expect confidently to win around Tea tomorrow. It has been depressing to watch England implode, washing away all the successes against India and Sri Lanka. Make no mistake, England are going to lose and lose badly, but they desperately need to show some fight in the second innings and to bat a lot better, if only for their self-respect. Australia are watching England and are shaking in their boots, but it is with laughter, not fear.

West Indies v England, 1st Test, Day 1: Anderson and Stokes Provoke a Calypso Collapso

 

West Indies v England

1st Test, Day 1: Anderson and Stokes Provoke a Calypso Collapso

January 23^rd 2019

 With the pitch suggesting to Joe Root that a second spinner might be more useful than an extra seamer, Sam Curran put another nail in the incipient coffin of Stuart Broad’s Test career by keeping him out of the side again and Adil Rashid won the battle for the #10 spot in the batting order from Jack Leach, with the selectors reasoning that his ability to produce an explosive, wicket-taking delivery was more important than Leach’s economy and ability to close-down an end. While the Curran-for-Broad selection worked in Sri Lanka, where seamers were bit-players, how effective it will be in the Caribbean is open to doubt. Broad, at his best, is by far the better bowler, although Curran offers variety, giving a left-arm/right-arm opening attack, something that England have missed for many years. However, it did not take long for doubts to surface, with his first ball disappearing to the boundary and the 21 runs from his first five overs providing sharp contrast to the just 4 runs from Jimmy Anderson’s first five. The decision to play Adil Rashid brought the normal storm of protest on social media, ignoring the fact that the eight matches since his unexpected recall have brought him 22 wickets at 29.4, well below his career average and a reputation for making critical breakthroughs when most needed and least expected. While the Moeen-Leach OB/SLA combination is probably the best match and the most reliable, life is never boring when Adil Rashid is bowling. And to think that Dominic Bess, who made such a favourable impression last summer, is no better than fourth choice and maybe even fifth. Spin may be dead, but England have probably six spinners right now who are as good as any who played in the barren years before Monty Panesar’s brief career.

Within an hour in the morning the fans more inclined to knee-jerk reactions were summing-up the match and the series. As Jimmy Anderson reeled-off maiden after maiden at one end, Sam Curran’s first ball sailed away to the boundary. Things did not get much better for him after that inauspicious start. Suffice it to say that he does not look like a new ball bowler at this level.The pitch looked friendly. The bowling looked impotent. And the selection of Curran and Adil Rashid ahead of Broad and Leach looked like a pretty crass error. It was a situation that threatened 300-3 at the Close and a hard day chasing leather. The openers put on 53 and then 73 were added for the second wicket. At 126-1, with only Jimmy Anderson exercising any control, Stuart Broad was beginning to look like a bowler of legendary powers (it is curious, when he is in the side the fans moan that he has done nothing to justify his place and, when he not picked, they moan that he is the best bowler that we have). There was though a little warning of the frailties of Caribbean cricket as Ben Stokes picked up Brathwaite and Bravo in quick succession and 126-1 became a slightly less solid 128-3. Still, five of the top six reached 40 and with the new ball taken and the Close looming, 240-4 looked like the foundation for 400+. The West Indians just needed someone to hang around and turn a solid start into a big score and make England suffer. This is not a great England side, but one of its virtues is that it finds ways to turn games that look to be heading the way of the opposition.

Sixteen deliveries with the new ball and even though the odd ball beat the bat, more were beating the boundary fielders. Then Royston Chase played a loose shot and, suddenly, the batting disintegrated in the Calypso Collapso fashion that has encouraged tired bowlers for years. Three quick wickets for Jimmy Anderson and then one for Ben Stokes with what proved to be the last ball of the day. The West Indians can consider themselves fortunate that, despite a decent over-rate from England, the umpires considered that there was not enough time left to finish the over, otherwise you would not have bet against a ninth wicket falling.

264-8 represented a decent day’s work yet, with the new ball suddenly starting to spit and misbehave, you wonder if the pitch really is as benign as it appeared to be in the morning. It could have been even better. At 178-4, Hetmayer drove Jimmy Anderson to Jos Buttler at cover. Buttler shelled what should have been a fairly straightforward catch and Hetmayer went on to 56* at the Close. Maybe England will pay for two sessions of anaemic cricket and 280 will prove to be a match-winning score: that you never know until both sides have batted and, sometimes, not even then. England though have a got themselves into a position that offers them a real chance if they can finish the tail quickly in the morning. With Jimmy Anderson resting on figures of 24-12-33-4 and Ben Stokes, 19.2-2-47-3, with a still new ball in the morning, the England batsmen may get their chance quite quickly.