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.