At drinks on the second afternoon, as England’s batting lineup sat in flaming ruins on 49 for seven, the DJ in the Kensington Oval’s party stand flicked through his record collection and plumped, rather predictably, for David Rudder’s Rally Round The West Indies.
This was not the slow and slightly mournful brass version used as the region’s de facto anthem before games, however, but rather the full-blown calypso mix; the one that implores the people of the Caribbean to “rise again like a raging fire”.
Kemar Roach had been that raging fire, completing a breathtaking spell of five for four in 27 balls and bringing forward the refreshments with a snorter that left Jos Buttler nowhere to go bar the Sir Garfield Sobers pavilion. This art deco building could easily pass for the bridge of a jolly Caribbean cruise ship, or a swanky eatery on Miami’s South Beach but one fancies the England dressing room inside was a touch less upbeat.
Joe Root’s tourists, rolled for 77 in 30.2 overs, will lament another woeful start to an away trip with the bat. Less than 12 months ago it was New Zealand’s Trent Boult and Tim Southee who had ridiculed them for 58 all out in Auckland. Bar a couple of dismissals – an errant drive from Keaton Jennings and a lame pull/fend from Moeen Ali – this was as much about the sheer will and skill of the West Indies fast bowlers, however.
The travelling supporters may outnumber the locals these days but as Roach and his captain, Jason Holder, tore through England’s top seven, ably backed up by Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph’s snuffing out of the tail, there was fair old whiff of nostalgia. “It’s just good old-fashioned fast bowling, man,” beamed one home fan ensconced in the sea of sunburned Brits.
Jimmy Anderson, whose 27th five-wicket haul in the morning was soured by the need to strap on his bowling boots less than two hours later, had warned that an extra desire to beat England can be seen in the eyes of the hosts. In the case of Roach, this can certainly be said to apply.
Now 30, and having found his body rebellious in recent years, he is no longer the tearaway quick who once sent Ricky Ponting to the infirmary with a busted arm. A car crash in 2014, in which his BMW rolled multiple times and two wheels flew off, is often viewed as the before-and-after moment of the Bajan’s career even though he incredibly emerged with only a minor head injury.
His bowling speeds have since dropped from 90mph to (a still lively) 85mph but the right-armer with the chunky gold chain has compensated by making devilish accuracy his calling card. Here he was like an angry hornet, repeatedly swooping in to inflict stings of far greater potency than Stuart Broad’s reported recent battle with bed bugs.
There was a certain irony that Roach, standing only 5ft 8in, should be whizzing in from the Joel Garner end, while the 6ft 7in Holder had deployed himself from that named after the more diminutive Malcolm Marshall. Both men call this ground home, of course, and know how crosswinds complement their differing styles.
For Holder, coping with the expectation those legendary forebears created has been a way of life. There is a case to say that, even with such broad shoulders, the captaincy came too soon in his career, aged 23, and it hindered his development.
Four years on and this has been overcome. He may never be an express – a bend, rather than brace, of the knee on delivery makes this so – but the steepling bounce he generates, as well as the proudly upright seam that accounted for Jennings and Root, makes him a rising force.
To pinch another line from Rudder, this impressive young captain could well come to represent the sunbeam cutting through a clouded recent past.
