1) Trott’s Test career is surely over
In a way Jonathan Trott’s second knock in Barbados was even more dispiriting than the first. On the opening day he had been utterly undone by a Shannon Gabriel bouncer and departed for his third duck in five innings, the manner of the dismissal making his exit from the Test side almost inevitable. But there was still the second dig. Everyone expected a barrage of bumpers but Jerome Taylor went full and looked for inswing. There were a couple of classic Trott clips through midwicket, themselves a pleasing if poignant reminder of his best years in an England shirt, but then he missed one and was trapped lbw, a far more jarring reminder of just how far away those best years now appear.
Adam Lyth, who should really have been given the nod in the third Test, should certainly now be given a chance to establish himself against New Zealand before England’s meeting with the two Mitchells later in the year. Although Alex Hales also looks in pretty good nick …
2) Young guns are still a work in progress
It was a strange old series for Ben Stokes, Chris Jordan, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali. Each had his moments – Stokes’ sprightly 79 and Buttler’s half-century in Antigua, Ali’s penetrative bowling in Grenada, Jordan’s astonishing slip fielding throughout – but there were mistakes too: Ali bowled hideously in Barbados, Buttler missed a potentially match-changing stumping in the final innings of the series, Stokes and Jordan struggled to alleviate England’s reliance on Stuart Broad and, in particular, James Anderson.
So some questions remain: can Ali, who did not bowl as well as James Tredwell did in the first Test, really be relied upon as England’s specialist spinner? Is Buttler, who was not out three times and faced only 175 balls in five innings, being wasted at No8? Do England need more variety from a third seamer than Jordan can offer? Is Stokes the new Flintoff or the new Bopara? One thing is pretty clear, though: England should give them time to come up with the answers.
3) Root is now England’s most important batsman
Since moving to No5 at the start of 2014 Joe Root averages a Bradmanesque 94.58 and has scored four huge centuries, the most recent of which came in the first innings in Grenada. He was the leading runscorer in the series and England needed him to be – only once (in that Grenada Test) did he come to the crease with his team in a position of strength. In his four other knocks he arrived at 34, 52, 38 and 18, all for three. The New Zealand series awaits first but he is likely to enter the Ashes as the English scalp Australia prize the most. And as Ian Bell displayed in 2013, one batsman at the peak of his form can make all the difference.
4) Alastair Cook is back. Sort of
There was a sense that the tide had begun to turn for Alastair Cook with his back-to-back half-centuries against India at the Rose Bowl last year and this tour confirmed that, while he may not completely have recovered his mojo, we at least know he still has one. The heights of 2010 and 2011 – the daddy century years – may never be repeated but he enters a huge summer for English cricket with the question marks about his position as captain of the Test side fading away. The New Zealand series will be a tough one but the England captain can approach it as a tune up for the Ashes series rather than a tussle to save his job.
5) West Indies have reason for optimism
Victory in Barbados was only a third Test win against England for the West Indies since 2000, when Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose were still on the prowl, and the performances of a couple of young players provided plenty of hope for the home side.
Jermaine Blackwood showed particularly with his century in Antigua but also in two brilliant knocks in Bridgetown that there is batting talent in the West Indies capable of coping with the rigours of Test cricket. Jason Holder’s emergence as an all-rounder of genuinely exciting potential continued, with a handy eight wickets at 31.12 and that match-saving final-day century in the first Test.
Much like England there remain concerns at the top of the order, where Devon Smith was jettisoned, Shai Hope struggled on debut and Kraigg Brathwaite played one innings of substance in Grenada but fell cheaply everywhere else, and it is no coincidence that the one match in which Jerome Taylor was missing from the bowling attack was their one defeat. But while the Caribbean may not be the hotbed of talent it once was, there is talent nevertheless.
