There is some optimism surrounding the England team, not just within its bounds but among those supporters following them to the Caribbean. The first Test in Antigua was a tough one in challenging conditions for bowlers and England twice showed character to recover from early adversity with the bat to get into a position almost to force a win on a pitch that scarcely deteriorated. It was a considerable effort.
There was a vibrant feel to it, with classy centuries from Ian Bell and Gary Ballance, consistent runs from Joe Root and an excellent return with the bat for Ben Stokes. The prospect for this second Test, starting on Tuesdaytoday, of watching Stokes, Moeen Ali – who will probably return for James Tredwell in the only change likely from the first Test – and Jos Buttler at six, seven and eight is actually mouthwatering. The engine of the side has had a radical overhaul and is running smoothly.
Only at the top of the order is there a problem after the openers, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, fell to excellent new-ball bowling from Jerome Taylor in particular. His skiddy swing at good pace troubled them both and did for Trott all too readily. Cook’s rehabilitation since his dropping from the one-day side is a work in progress but looks to be heading in the right direction.
However, Trott remains a concern, at least for those who considered his apparent renaissance after his unfortunate departure from the last Ashes tour to be a gamble that ought not to have been taken.
Broadly there are two schools of thought. The first says he has done all that has been asked on an arduous journey of discovery and whatever it was that so haunted him has been banished.
The second believes the risk of regression, particularly in an unfamiliar role, is too great, especially in the series that follow this one. He would expect to be severely challenged by the new ball as he was in Antigua (that of course is what openers are there for), and then physically and, in all probability, verbally as never before in his life.
Far from being relaxed now, in Antigua he looked the same old obsessive, fiddling with his pads, walking around. It is said he has been netting at 7.30 in the morning. At the crease he was moving in directions that made him try to work to leg deliveries that were moving away. Taylor sent down some excellent balls but Trott ought not to have got out in the manner he did.
Cook was phlegmatic and supportive of him, as might be expected, when asked about Trott on the eve of the second Test. “In these conditions striking with the new ball is crucial when you are bowling and obviously the same applies to the opposition,” he said.
“I think he is probably quite glad to get that Test out of the way after such a long build-up. The progress he made over that 14 or 15 months away – I imagine he thought about that Test for quite a long time. I think he will be better for that.”
The danger is that runs here, on what is effectively a subcontinental batting strip, would camouflage what might happen when Trott was confronted by Trent Boult and Tim Southee; the Mitchells, Johnson and Starc; Wahab Riaz; and Dale Steyn together with Morne Morkel.
There is also the issue of Adam Lyth who has earned his place on tour through weight of runs, especially centuries, for Yorkshire and for whom it is very much an imperative to see what he can do now. The background to the Trott story will never go away.
Cook spoke animatedly about his own batting and what he has been doing to try to halt the absence of centuries that have been his hallmark since his debut in Nagpur. It has been evident in practice, and in the match, that he has opened up his stance to try to prevent himself hitting around his front pad.
There still seems to be a lack of synchronising his movements, though, so that he is almost playing the ball on the walk in his eagerness to make contact, a contrast, say, to Shivnarine Chanderpaul for whom time almost stands still, so much of it does he have to move into position early but play the ball late.
Cook has been back working with Graham Gooch, who lost his job as England batting coach after the Ashes series but remains a mentor to the captain.
“I’ve just been working with Goochie on a number of things. You are always constantly trying to tinker with technique and improve, trying this and that, and that is the batting charter in a sense. But you can fall into certain habits at certain times throughout your career.
“The most important thing is when you are out in the middle you are not concentrating on technique but on that ball coming down to you. Things need to be automatic,” Cook said.
He has even revisited footage of his batting when he was in his formative international years and everything was just instinctive. “It is weird, isn’t it?” he admitted. “I did look back in early February and watched a bit of it and my technique has changed quite a lot. But batting is kind of evolutionary and to go back to the exact thing I once did probably would be really unnatural now. What you end up trying to do is keep searching for things in trying to improve, and in doing this you get better at certain things and not so good at others.
“My game has improved over time, I definitely believe that. If you want an extreme example of how techniques can evolve look at Chanderpaul, how he was when he first started to how he is now, or Jacques Kallis in a different way :they have all tinkered and changed to some degree.
“The mental approach is really important to me. I’ve got a bit wiser over the years perhaps. But I’ve been lucky throughout my career in that I have a very simple game plan on the mental side. I’m a resilient guy who can try and play each individual ball on its merits. It’s what my success has been built on and that hasn’t changed.”
