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.