Slap bang in the middle of the island the towering stands at each end of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium incongruously dominate a landscape that is still composed of scrubland and featuring the odd meandering goat. The ground is no more than 10km from the capital, St John’s, but it might as well be a hundred.
The locals would wander in off the high street in St John’s to watch the Test match at the old Recreation Ground, especially if West Indies were in the ascendancy, which was usually the case. Chickie would get the disco going, Gravy would make an entrance on to a makeshift platform reminiscent of Dame Edna in her pomp, and there was a buzz about the place.
But Antiguans are far more reluctant to trek to the middle of the island to watch cricket. Occasionally admission has been free for a Test here in recent times and still they have not turned up, not that there are many to come since the population of Antigua is under 100,000.
This time there is every incentive for the home supporters to mingle with the thousands of British fans on the island. West Indies’ victory in Barbados was so emphatic there can be realistic hopes this is no false dawn. Since 2012 West Indies have won Test series against only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh but now the defeat of one of the “big boys” is most definitely on the horizon. The three-Test series can be won here before England rediscover their equilibrium.
After their epic victory over England at Headingley in 2017 West Indies subsided again in the next Test at Lord’s. But somehow that outcome is far less likely this time. Jason Holder’s team are more mature, have the advantage of playing on home soil, and in Bridgetown they did not need a friendly declaration to win the game.
Instead they steamrollered hapless opponents and after the match Holder was keen to emphasise this was merely a first step; he was delighted rather than ecstatic. “We have shown glimpses in the past and there have been some great personal performances,” he said on Wednesday, but he wants more now. He confirmed all of his players are fit.
By the same token England were taken aback rather than traumatised after the Bridgetown Test and the reason for that is that they have been this way before so frequently – in Auckland last year, at Trent Bridge against India in 2018, in Abu Dhabi in 2012. There is the danger that a batting implosion is increasingly viewed as an occupational hazard, which is an unhealthy development.
This time they have shuffled the pack. Joe Denly will make his Test debut at the age of 32, the oldest batsman to do so since Alan Wells in 1995, which did not work out frightfully well. Wells made a duck and three not out against West Indies at the Oval and never played a Test again.
There is a good case for taking a punt on Denly, though not necessarily for the right reasons. He was a borderline selection for this tour. There was consideration of Jason Roy as a dynamic, wildcard, alternative opener but they stuck with Ed Smith’s punt.
Keaton Jennings has struggled and there is an impetus to do something after the team have batted so poorly in two innings. Denly is the only spare. Sometimes captains obstinately give all the batsmen a chance to atone after a batting fiasco but not this time. Mike Atherton recalled a long, difficult conversation with Nasser Hussain, who was the spare batsman not called up in 1994 after England had been bowled out for 46 in Trinidad.
With Jennings out of sorts it is probably worth finding out about Denly. The blunt truth is that he may have only four innings to make an impression as a Test opener, but that is better than nothing. There is then a five-month hiatus from Test cricket after the match in St Lucia next week, during which much can happen.
Here he has the chance to surprise everyone, maybe taking as his mentor Australia’s Chris Rogers, who played 24 of his 25 Tests after his 35th birthday.
There is time for Jennings to return to Test cricket one day, which may not be the case with Adil Rashid. He was omitted from the 12 and soon after it was announced he is going home because his wife is expecting their second child. Rashid will return for the ODIs, an easier form of the game, and one which suits him better.
Rashid is unlikely to be used in Test cricket in the English summer or in New Zealand and South Africa next winter. There are two Tests in Sri Lanka in March 2020 but they seem a long way off. If Rashid has played his last Test he has taken more wickets (60) than any English leg-spinner since Doug Wright, who played his final game in 1951. We keep romancing but they do not seem to work very well in England.
Stuart Broad is in the squad and this time it is virtually certain that he will be in the final XI. Root confirmed how well he has been bowling on this tour, which begged an obvious question. England will take one final look at the pitch on Thursday morning and then decide between Sam Curran and Jack Leach. The likelihood is that Curran, despite losing his lucky charm status last week, will play.
Win the toss – and bat. There is patchy grass on the pitch, rather than an even covering, and not enough to insert the opposition.
West Indies KC Brathwaite, JD Campbell, SD Hope, DM Bravo, RL Chase, SO Hetmyer, SO Dowrich, JO Holder, KAJ Roach, AS Joseph, ST Gabriel.
England RJ Burns, JL Denly, JM Bairstow, JE Root, BA Stokes, JC Buttler, MM AlI, BT Foakes, SM Curran, SCJ Broad, JMAnderson.
