The three test series vs West indies was quite predictable in many ways and this includes the result, a home win. Firstly the pitches for the first two matches were shocking. I suppose it was inevitable that economies which rely on the tourist dollar and have been starved by covid are going to produce pitches that hold up for full five days. England’s management probably guessed this so leaving our greatest partnership at home might prove to have been a master stroke. But could we have forced a win in these matches with Anderson and/or Broad in the team? Probably.
England certainly had the best of the first two tests
without really ever seeming close to a win.
The batsmen performed well as a unit on the benign pitches and there
were big individual innings from Root, Crawley, Bairstow and Stokes.
The bowlers always looked a little light, especially when
arguably the best two on tour (Wood and Robinson) were injured. Debutant Mahmood done quite well and Leach
deserved better returns. In hindsight we
definitely should have picked two spinners on these pitches.
The third Test was an embarrassment, suddenly confronted
with a tricky pitch the batsmen reverted to type with a performance which
resembled the shite they produced in Australia.
By this stage we were basically playing a third choice seam attack who
were found wanting. In these
circumstances we learnt nothing we didn’t already know; Woakes is ineffective
away from home and Overton just isn’t test class. West Indies won by 10 wickets with five
sessions to spare.
What can we take away from the tour and the big ‘re-set’? Not much.
We are still miles away from having a decent batting line up but although
there wasn’t a big score from Alex Lees he didn’t disgrace himself at the top
of the order. Root played two more great
knocks and Stokes looked like he was getting back to his best. Crawley, Bairstow and Lawrence did enough to
hang onto their places but little more, as usual. Ben Foakes had a poor third test and will
probably end up a scapegoat, I predict the gloves will be passed back to
Bairstow in the near future so Pope can be squeezed back in. Of the bowlers Stokes and Leach performed as
we’d expect and Mahmood had a decent start to his test career. Things may well have been different if
Robinson and Wood had stayed fit but leaving Anderson and Broad at home was an
arrogant (non) selection which was punished.
It will be no surprise if Joe Root bears the brunt of any recrimination
and I think change is well overdue. In
sixty odd tests he’s been an adequate captain but nothing more.
Finally the Talksport commentary… God it was barely tolerable. Former cricketers that I liked as players came
across as opinionated pricks; Gough and Harmison in particular but Butcher and
Prior were little better. Nicholas was okay but he loves the sound of his own
voice and why was Manthorpe even on the air? And as for fucking Jarrod Kimber,
Aussie stat man formally of Cricinfo,
Just piss off you irritating twat.
Spring is here and summer approaching, the ordeal of
supporting England will continue but at least we’ll have TMS on the airwaves to
entertain and ease the pain.
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