Slowly but surely the England Test team are rebuilding and starting to succeed, the phoenix from the Ashes. A solid line has been drawn under the attempt, understandable despite what may be thought, to squeeze one last series out of a flagging side in Australia and start again.
There is a country mile and more to go when it comes to white-ball cricket, but put a red ball in their hands and the results are there to be seen. Should England win the final Test at Kensington Oval, which starts on Friday, it would be their fifth win in six matches with only the drawn Test in Antigua, a game they had dominated by the end, breaking the sequence.
Furthermore, a win now and it would be the first time since they won in Mumbai and Kolkata in late 2012, and two years before that in Melbourne and Sydney, that they would have won two Tests in a row away from home. It is an encouraging start for a side who are full of optimism.
England, of course, still have to win the game. But if it is dangerous to get too far ahead of things then there is a definite feeling that when Jimmy Anderson almost single-handedly blew the West Indies away on the final morning in Grenada, he also knocked the stuffing from their resilience which had seen them cling on tenaciously for nine days. England have battered away and now that Anderson has forced the door open, it is hard to see it being shut again.
This Test, though, will be played on a pitch that promises to be the best of the series, with more pace than either Antigua or Grenada and more bounce than the latter, which was at least an improvement on the sullen offering in the first Test. The last time the teams met here the bat so dominated that England’s confident declaration at 600 for six (scoreboard pressure and all that) was trumped by West Indies’ 749 for nine (how do you like them apples?). The difference is that unlike 2009, when England were attempting to overturn a 1‑0 deficit and were being continually thwarted, they now have their noses in front.
Even if they could, it is no use West Indies batting England out of the contest as they did then: they have to win the game to share the Wisden trophy.
From an England perspective the main debate is the balance of the side, and whether in fact a team who have just won need any change at all. When on Wednesday Paul Farbrace said that all options were open that included the strongest option, and the most likely, of leaving everything as it was.
However, there are things that could be considered. The first concerns Jonathan Trott at the top of the order. When the coach Peter Moores offered what appeared to be strong backing for him following the second Test, it was only what might have been expected: he could scarcely say otherwise. But to say that he played “very well” during his first-innings half-century and that he was unlucky in the second to get out to the new ball was too much.
It was scratchy if tenacious in the estimation of good judges. In the second innings he played three technically poor shots, to the third of which he got out: that is not bad luck. The chances are that England will persist with him and see what eventuates, but a personal preference would be to put Adam Lyth in now.
The further backing of the all-rounders Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan, first by Farbrace and then by Alastair Cook, is more understandable for these are two talented cricketers starting out on their careers and who will only benefit from playing and learning. One, Stokes, is a quality batsman cum fourth seamer lacking as yet the control to be a third seamer. The other has been learning the third seamer’s role as well as having an important fielding one.
The clamour to include Adil Rashid at the expense of either is surely misjudged for although he is said to have made progress in developing his pace up to Test match requirements, he is as yet unable to do so while maintaining his spin, which defeats the object. In international terms, especially on a ground where spinners historically have had to bowl a lot of overs for their wickets, he is a work in progress.
A case could be made for including either Liam Plunkett or Mark Wood to freshen up the pace attack instead, perhaps, of Stuart Broad, who is inconsistent at the moment. But Broad did bowl one decisive spell in Grenada, where the pitch did not suit his natural length. This surface may be more to his liking.
West Indies look certain to make one change and possibly several. The injury sustained by Jason Holder to his left ankle has proved not as serious as it looked and he is fit, as is Jerome Taylor, who missed the second Test with a shoulder injury. The performance of Shannon Gabriel in Grenada means that it might be Kemar Roach who misses out in what will probably be a four-man attack. There is some doubt over the fitness of Devendra Bishoo, who skinned his ring finger, that which spins the leg break, during his 51-over stint in Grenada. Veerasammy Permaul, the Guyanese left-arm spinner, is on standby.
ENDS
Teams
England (probable): Cook, Trott, Ballance, Bell, Root, Moeen Ali, Stokes, Buttler, Jordan, Broad, Anderson
West Indies (possible): Ramdin, Smith, Brathwaite, Bravo, Samuels, Chanderpaul, Blackwood, Holder, Bishoo, Taylor, Gabriel.
Pitch: Bare and hard. Some early signs of cracking but not known for breaking up. Definitely bat first.
