The Windies and the Return of Calypso Cricket

[Nottsboy118]

And so it begins… I’ve taken over the West Indies for what should be somewhat of a rollercoaster journey. Currently sitting in 8^th, 9^th and 5^th in the ranking for Tests, ODI and T20I respectively, this represents a pretty fair evaluation of the team and the current mess. And if anything it is being a touch generous; I’d back Bangladesh to beat us on aggregate in some sort of home and away Test match for example.

However this is where we are at. We have a pretty full calendar in our first year playing 6 different nations. After an analysis of our upcoming year I reckon best case scenario we pretty much break even maybe making small gains in T20I rankings… however the worst case scenario could represent a bit of a car crash and result in us giving Zimbabwe a real challenge for that 10^th position in the rankings for Tests and ODIs.

I’m going to try and give my own man of the match awards after each game/series, as much to remind myself of good performers than anything else. Hopefully this will help me remember players making runs when it matters rather than people making 50s when we’re already at 400-4… however unlikely that is to happen, and likewise rewarding big wickets instead of someone getting numbers 9, 10 and 11.

So then first up is Pakistan at home for 3 Test matches followed by 3 ODIs. Last time they visited they beat us in the Test series and we drew the one day matches so we’re not defending many points… here’s hoping we don’t lose that precious one point.

[Nottsboy118]

So the 15 man squad selected for the ODI series is; Holder (c), Bishoo, Bravo (vc), Carter, Chase, Cornwall, Gabriel, Hope (wk), Joseph, Lewis, Mohammed, Narine, Powell. K, Powell. R, Samuels

The main thing came to mind when selecting my first squad, there is such a dearth of talent in West Indies; it’s a bit depressing really. However the spin bowling stocks look incredibly healthy relative to everything else, which is just strange when in many minds, mine included, ‘West Indies strength is spin’ just sounds like an oxymoron.

I don’t like fast bowling captains but there are really no alternatives that are close to guaranteed first team, and I also didn’t want to select Samuels but there are really no alternative experienced players. A lack of options indeed. However there are a few talented youngsters in the squad; Joseph I’ve seen a bit of and he looks promising, Rovman Powell I’ve read a bit about and we’ll see how he goes and most importantly Cornwall – because who doesn’t love a fat lad playing professional cricket?



On a spinning wicket we opt for four bowlers, hoping to get the additional 10 overs out of a combination of Chase, Mohammed and maybe even Samuels. None of the three previously mentioned youngsters feature, with an intital focus on hopefully getting a positive result. The Pakistan bowling unit looks pretty dangerous, particularly on this type of track, however with a team full of all-rounders and Imad Wasim coming in at 5 the batting looks a tad weak. We lose the toss and are put in.

[Nottsboy118]

Well this is going to be a long journey. Somehow 203-8 flattered us. All the batsmen from 1 to 7 got starts yet only one got past 30, although Chase and Hope got out in the death overs playing selfless cricket so they can be excused somewhat. The whole innings lacked tempo and was overly cautious, a problem caused by me having little faith in the batting line up as much as anything… although I was proved 100% correct in that judgement.

We actually bowled very well; albeit with the small total we only bowled three overs of the ‘fifth bowler compliment’ so that selection policy could yet trip us up. Holder bowled brilliantly, particularly with the new ball, and Gabriel supported him well. Narine was slightly expensive and not as dangerous as you would hope on the surface offered, Bishoo however was outstanding offering complete control whilst remaining menacing throughout. Bravo dropped two at slip, first Ahmed, who went on to make 85*and then Wasim. Pakistan’s batting line-up still looks weak to me but when you’re defending 203 that doesn’t much matter.


I’'m going to do end of season awards for each format, which will be awarded via points gained throughout the year. Thus my points for this match are as follows:

5 –- Holder, bowled beautifully and actually gave us a slight sniff when he reduced them to 4-2 in the chase
3 –- Bishoo, deserved a wicket but whilst that didn’t come, thanks partly to a dropped catch, he did bowl 10 lovely overs for just 36 runs.
1 –- Samuels, this is where things get tricky but a half century secures Samuels a single point.

[Nottsboy118]

Both teams went into this one unchanged. My rationale being that the series is still alive and this is probably still my best XI, but a repeat performance will definitely see the changes rung – quite possibly all four. This time we won the toss and elected to have a bowl.

The opening pair again started well, but after they were both changed we looked a bit toothless; the first wicket falling in the 8^th over and the second in the 47^th over. Bishoo again bowled well for no reward, but this time Narine outshined him taken four wickets. We struggled at the death, not that surprisingly I guess given that our attack contains only four bowlers two of which are spinners. Pakistan reached 305-5; if cricket captain had ‘WASP’ it would have been at about 5% at the start of our chase.

On reflection 5% was a bit generous, we never looked like we might chase that down – 212-9 we finished on. Again our innings contained a collection of twenties and thirties which I’m not sure how to rectify given at no point are the batsmen on what I would consider too aggressive settings, I guess they’re just not good enough which isn’t ideal when they are the best I’ve got available to me. Another problem is the lack of rotation of strike; there are far too many cumulative dot balls, again something I’m not sure how to rectify. Hope played a nice innings, which given he did similar in the first game gives me a tiny positive.



And for the awards:

5 – Narine, nice and easy given he was the only player to come out of this game with any pride
3 – Hope, scraping the barrel already, he played a decent innings that is all
1 – Gabriel, again nothing to shout home about but bowled well enough although a bit expensive at the death.

With the series lost emphatically already there will be plenty of changes. Bringing three young players into a losing team isn’t ideal but I imagine I will make the maximum number of changes, I mean we have been absolutely rubbish so far.

[Nottsboy118]

Four changes are made; Carter comes in for Mohammed, Chase is replaced in the off-spinning all-rounder spot by Cornwall, Joseph replaces Gabriel and Powell comes in for Bishoo. Bishoo and Gabriel are unlucky to miss out but with the series lost experimentation is the order of the day. We now bat very deep, but our bowling options are looking questionable at best. We win the toss, and with batting definitely our stronger bow in this side we opt to chase. Pakistan are unchanged and looking very likely to make this 3-0.

304-4 was made by Pakistan and given the 191 run opening stand we did well to limit them to that. Joseph was dangerous and produced the most ‘chances’ but was ultimately expensive, Powell was reasonably economical without ever threatening to take a wicket, and Cornwall and Carter fulfilled the fifth bowler’s quota solidly. However 305 was not going to be an easy chase to avoid a whitewash.

71-0 after 10 represented our best start by a country mile, however almost immediately afterwards both openers fell. Samuels and Bravo rebuilt well before both predictably got out after starts. Cornwall and Powell both played handy cameos down the order as we reached 270-7, a loss by 34 runs. Again we never threatened to win but it was still comfortably our best performance of the series.We finally passed 250 for the first time, so like England at the last world cup we’re about 30 years behind everyone else.



Awards:

5 – Lewis, a rapid 49 given us our best start yet, should’ve gone on but the innings showed promise
3 – Holder, nothing special but two wickets and some decent lower order runs represents another handy all-round contribution from the captain
1 – R. Powell, 10 overs for 53 from a part time bowler and some big hitting towards the end hint at promise.

So a 3-0 loss, not ideal but I’m starting to get an idea of the squad. Samuels top scored comfortably but frustratingly didn’t go on and get a really big match winning score, hence the lack of points in the final game, something he as the experienced number 3 batsman he needs to do. Narine and Holder picked up the wickets this series but there were plenty of good performances all-round and I think I’ve got a reasonable stable of options both young and old to choose from.

Now onto a 3 match series where we are defending one ranking point.

[Nottsboy118]

The twelve man squad for the opening test is; Holder (c), Bishoo, Brathwaite, Bravo (vc), Chase, Cummings, Dowrich (wk), Gabriel, Hope. K, Hope. S, Singh, Warrican

Again a tough squad to pick for all the wrong reasons. Warrican acts as the optional second spinner and Cummings gets the nod over Joseph in a tight call for the final seamer spot. The likely top 7 contains two debutants and 3 players with under 10 appearances, very much sink or swim for a few. The lack of depth and options is such that I debated playing 35 year old perennial Test Match failure Devon Smith, it really is that bad.

Our team picked itself really given it wasn’t going to offer too much turn, the top 7 really looking light when listed side by side with Ali, Misbah, Khan et al. The toss looked imperative given the apparent disparity between the sides. And we lost it, into the field we go.



We delivered an all-round pleasing bowling performance. Nobody was allowed to get on top of us and pile up the runs, apart from Misbah ul-Haq who played brilliantly offering nothing to us before eventually departing just short of a double century. All the bowlers offered something except for Holder, who much like real life didn’t look too threatening in the longer form. To limit them to 433 was a good start but we needed to bat well to stay in this solid position.

A great batting retort to actually take a slight lead into the 2^nd innings, however to pick holes into it would be to say over half the runs were scored by the two most senior batsmen and a lot of the younger batsman didn’t contribute greatly although there is plenty of time for that yet. The great knocks from Brathwaite and Bravo all but secured the draw and even gave us a slight chance of a victory heading into late day 4.

An okay bowling effort but not especially dangerous giving the conditions, alas the draw was always the most likely after the first innings. With Pakistan scoring 228-4dec and subsequently attaining a lead of 215 with a session and a bit to play a draw was surely the result.

It was, we played defensively and took the draw from the start. Hope and Singh failed again but nothing much more happened of note. A good draw, a result I wasn’t expecting after Pakistan’s first innings and the previous ODI series.



The first ratings for the Test Match award:

5 – Bravo, a brilliant hundred and a bit of red ink in the final innings too

3 – Bishoo, in a great all-round bowling performance he was the pick with a five wicket haul

1 – Brathwaite, he'’s undoubtedly our most important batsman and he lived up to this billing, deserved a hundred

[Nottsboy118]

We’re unchanged for the second test, Pakistan bring in Riaz for Shah. We win the toss in very friendly conditions and we opt to bat.

What a innings. 557-5dec. Admittedly a few caveats are needed; we scored slowly and therefore we are still going to find it hard to force a result and the pitch was an absolute belter. But even taken that into account the performance was still excellent: we had a maiden century from K. Hope, a maiden fifty from Singh, two more centuries from Bravo and Chase and a fifty from Brathwaite. Everyone contributed. With the pitch deteriorating a bit the question was could our attack take 20 wickets?

Yet another solid team bowling performance as we bowled Pakistan out for 367 for a lead of 190, just missing out on enforcing the follow on. Cummings and Bishoo took 4 a piece, with Cummings in particular bowling superbly. Thus we began batting again midway through day 4 with roughly 150 overs left in the test.

A unsurprisingly quick innings got us to 210-8dec, meaning we’d only lost 13 wickets this test. Chase, Singh and S. Hope all provided good fast scoring cameos. We may have batted half an hour too long, the declaration left Pakistan needing 401 to win and 2 sessions and 1 hour and 20 minutes to get them.

Match drawn. So close yet so far. It looked like a draw maybe even a Pakistan win if anything for most of their innings until suddenly Bishoo took two in two balls and then Sarfraz ran Misbah out the next ball to give us a team Hat-trick. We attacked and attacked but they just about held firm finishing on 295-8. Should I have declared earlier? Yes, maybe, I don’t know. There were so many positives to come out of the performance though.



To the awards:

5 – K. Hope, so many great performances but a maiden century to set up all that follows takes first position

3 – Cummings, didn’t take the most wickets in the match but his first innings effort really set us up with the chance to push for an unlikely victory

1 – Chase, one century and an impressive quick-fire 40 in a great demonstration of his abilities, meaning one centurion and an 8 wicket man miss out

[Nottsboy118]

And onto the final test of the series, currently tied at 0-0 and defending a 1-1 previous series result it’s all to play for. We remain unchanged for the whole series and Pakistan bring Shah back in for Riaz. In this crucial game we again win the toss and on a docile surface again elect to bat first.

A tough innings, when the pressure was really on we struggled. Brathwaite and Hope started the game off well for us before we lost 4 wickets in 4 overs. Chase and Hope rebuilt the innings well but the damage had already been done, 218 all out. The pitch isn’t playing as easily as expected but it looks a long road back into this test match regardless.

The first innings this series that we’ve really struggled and just not looked good enough, owed in part I’m sure to the position we found ourselves after our first knock. 501-5dec, we tried all sorts but nothing seemed to work, just one of those days where you doff your cap and say ‘well played’.

283 behind almost 2 and a half days to play, it’s a long way back from here. We produced a much better show of things this time round, with almost everyone contributing as we sailed past the Pakistan lead to reach 385 all out. Taking the game well into day 5 and setting Pakistan the modest target of 103 to win the game and the series.

Well they cruised to a 10 wicket win as is the way with these targets sometimes. It was nevertheless a valiant series long effort and we were tremendously unlucky to come out of the whole thing with nothing to show.



The Test Match awards:

5 – S. Hope, a great first innings showing grit and determination when everyone else was losing their heads and wickets

3 – Chase, the other man to stick in there during the first innings horror show, not a big score but it’s who against and when you score your runs that counts

1 – Brathwaite, two solid contributions as usual, not his greatest match or series but the runs always come

Overall before the series I may well have taken a 1-0 loss but after the event it’s very disappointing. I’ll take my share of the blame for a cautious declaration in the 2^nd test but the players have got to learn that in Test cricket one bad session can lose you a match never mind one bad innings. There were positives throughout the team; Cummings was dangerous, Bishoo a constant source of wickets, K. Hope a solid opener, Bravo excelling as the experienced member of the middle order to name but a few. Bright things possibly lie ahead for this team.

[Nottsboy118]

Up next were a touring India team fresh from finishing third in their Champions Trophy group, a tournament South Africa won. We'’re defending no points in the 5 match ODI series and a avoiding a whitewash would be a good result, were as we won our last home T20I match against India so we need to perform well in that game.

Evin Lewis is injured so is replaced by Chadwick Walton in the only change, leaving the squad as: Holder (c), Bishoo, Bravo (vc), Carter, Chase, Cornwall, Gabriel, Hope (wk), Joseph, Mohammed, Narine, Powell. K, Powell. R, Samuels, Walton



The Indian XI is predictably very strong, we return to our ‘strongest XI’ minus Lewis through injury and with Carter retaining his place ahead of Mohammed. We lose the toss and are asked to have a bowl.

We again struggled to take wickets in the middle overs but restricting them to 296-5 wasn’t a bad effort with Gabriel particularly impressing with figures of 3-50 from his 10.

Well we ended up way short; we’re really struggling in this form of the game. Walton played nicely and given Powell is on the top of the ‘running out of chances’ list he may be partnering Lewis on his return from injury, Carter also looked neat and tidy but again we’re struggling for that big innings.



As for the awards:

5 - Gabriel, he’s been bowling well without reward so far this year so about time he picked up a few

3 - Walton, just edges out Carter with a solid half century

1 - Carter, attractive half century, he’s beginning to look a decent player

***

Onto the 2nd match, both teams are unchanged. We call tails, win and elect to bat first on a pitch offering turn from the outset.

The top order was obliterated by Kumar. Powell added another pointless 20 odd getting out just when he was set, his scores this year read; 17, 4, 22, 24. 21 and it’s fair to say he’s doing my head in. Samuels and Bravo also continue to be dreadful. Carter however appears to be the one shining light in this batting line-up, still yet to be dismissed this series.

I thought we’d have had a chance on a track like this with a decent total to defend and so it proved as we lost by just 3 wickets. Another good all-round bowling performance with the wickets spread around, just a shame they weren’t giving much of a chance by the batsmen.



The awards are a bit tricky with four players in with a shout:

5 - Carter, never a doubt, scoring 94 not out in a total of 202 was simply sublime

3 - Bishoo, 2-52 may look like just a solid effort but his early wickets gave us a chance

1 - Holder, 3 wickets and going at just 3 an over, very good performance

***

Forthe third match we wanted to make changes but with only Mohammed on the bench as a batting alternative there wasn’t much scope to do so, therefore Bravo and Powell were giving one last chance to produce. India made one change bringing in Kulkarni for Harbhajan. We won the toss and had a bowl.

We were incredibly toothless and never really looked like taking wickets; the only wicket before the slog overs was a run-out, yet India only managed 293 something very chaseable on this wicket.

180 all out, how predictable. I’m really not sure who in this team infuriates me the most; Powell and Bravo are useless, Samuels forever gets slow and steady 30-50 scores and then gets out when he needs to kick on and the rest are bloody awful too.



Awards:

5 - Samuels, the worst performance to get 5 points yet

3 - Narine, he was economical I guess

1 - Carter, just because he deserves some more points for his two previous performances

So 3 matches down and we've lost the series already, I was hoping to avoid a whitewash at the start and that is looking increasingly unlikely. Time to ring the changes.

[Nottsboy118]

So then, Joseph comes in for Bishoo who is bowling well but simply not taking the wickets he needs to in the middle overs, a third seamer will give us an extra option at the death too. Mohammed comes in for Bravo also with Carter moving up to 4 in the order. No changes for India, we lose the toss and are put in.

Let’s play West Indies ODI bingo: Samuels make a slow 40 and then get out? Check! Powell to be useless? Check! Carter to be the only fluent batsman? Check! He was run out by that man Samuels. At least we made 200 I guess.

Again not a bad effort from the bowlers, but they never had a chance. Narine the pick of the bowlers with the best ODI figures of the year so far. The three fast bowlers were the only other bowlers used and they were all decent but nothing more.



Awards:

5 – Narine, easy decision given the lovely bowling performance

3 – Holder, not much left in the barrel to scrape, he took a wicket and scored 12 runs

1 – Hope, he’s not getting much chance really regularly coming in with with the team 5 down for not many but this was a decent effort

***

Two changes for this one; Chase out, Cornwall in, and Gabriel out, R. Powell in. Harbhajan is back in for the visitors in place of Kulkarni. We lose the toss and are told to go and have a field.

And in the bid to claim a first international win of the season and avoid the 5-0 loss we produce a great bowling performance, limiting them to just 231-7. Holder and Narine led from the front brilliantly, but they were ably supported by the rest; Powell particularly impressing.

So could we bat 50 overs on a good pitch at 4.6 an over without losing all 10 wickets? It seems straightforward written down like that. We batted pretty averagely, edging and mistiming our way to 159-5 with 10 overs to go and 73 runs to get. Cornwall, Powell and Samuels edged us close before getting out, leaving us needing 5 off the last over with Holder facing on 3* and Narine at the other end not having faced a ball. Holder took a single, Narine then edged a single before Holder was trapped infront. Last man Joseph walked out… dot ball, then a single. Narine facing; 1 for the, draw 2 to win… he hits it just left of point and they scramble the single despite a big run out appeal. A draw, I suppose it beats the loss but so close to that maiden international win of the season.



And for the awards:

5 – Samuels, there were some great bowling performances but for finally getting a proper substantial score Samuels takes the points

3 – R. Powell, solid bowling performance followed by a quick 29 in the chase, can expect to get a run in the team after the promise he’s starting to show

1 – Narine, very harsh on Holder to get nothing but Narine just edges him out

So then 4-0, honestly better than I was expecting. And with hopefully a few big names available for the T20I maybe that first win is getting closer.

[Nottsboy118]

Two miss out through injury in Lewis and Andre Russell, giving a chance for a few to put forward their cases for continued selection. The squad is; Sammy (c), Badree, Brathwaite. C, Bravo. Dw, Charles, Gayle (vc), Narine, Pollard, Pooran (wk), Powell. R, Samuels, Williams



Both XI’s look strong although both have weaknesses; our batting looks a bit light with plenty of bowling options, there batting looks strong without an optional sixth bowler. We win the toss and tell Rahane and Rahul to get their pads on.

Well the bowling didn’t go to plan. Badree was poor first up, Bravo looked pretty ineffectual and Powell/Sammy/Pollard went 65 between them for their 4.

Not an awful batting performance by any counts with most wickets falling due to scoreboard pressure. Gayle got us off to a rapid start and good cameos from Pollard and Bravo kept us in with a shout, but ultimately they scored 20/25 too many.



T20I Awards:

5 – Narine, one of only two bowlers to offer us any real control, two wickets helped us too

3 – Gayle, 31 off just 13 got us ahead of the rate but couldn’t go on, sample of more too come hopefully

1 – Brathwaite, bowled well for 1-24 from his 4

The XI doesn’t look quite right with numbers 5 down looking a place or too high in the order, but something to work with for sure.

[Nottsboy118]

We have a month off and then a tour to England. We’re due to play a couple of tour matches, followed by 3 Test Matches (Lost 0-2), 1 T201 (Lost 0-1) and 5 ODI (Lost 0-2), as you can see we’re defending no points so there is nothing to lose, well apart from the matches.

We select the 12 players who made up the squad for each home game against Pakistan meaning we have 6 free spots for the tour. There has been no domestic cricket played yet but one West Indian has been playing in England; Jerome Taylor, and very impressively too so he is selected. Brooks and Hetmyer (batsmen), Cornwall (all-rounder), Delorn Johnson and Roach (Pace Bowlers) were the remaining players selected.

That all leaves the squad as: Holder (c), Bishoo, Brathwaite, Bravo (vc), Brooks, Chase, Cornwall, Cummings, Dowrich (wk), Gabriel, Hetmyer, Hope. K, Hope. S, Johnson, Roach, Singh, Taylor, Warrican

We open the tour with a three day match against Kent; we make one change from the last Test match team as Taylor comes in for Bishoo. There looks to be rain and clouds around so the fourth paceman makes sense and with Chase offering a bit of spin if we need it this could well be our 1^st Test lineup, it is somewhat unfair on Bishoo who has taken the most wickets for us so far this year but sometimes you have to make tough decisions like that. We lose the toss and are put into bat in tricky conditions.

Not much to say other than there was a lot of rain during a pointlessly short game anyway; I really don’t see the point in a three day game.



***

Next up is a bizarrely placed one day game with Derby less than a week before the 1^st test, and with no one day squad selected. We make wholesale changes in a bid to stop players from picking up bad habits before the tests, lose the toss and are asked to bat first.



We lost a game I’m not entirely sure why we were playing. The team was unbalanced and the effort and desire wasn’t there, not fussed about this loss at all. Only annoyance is with the WICB for scheduling it.

I do like to imagine the game has built in some awful scheduling to reflect the WICB's incompetent management. Anyway on to the tour proper we go.

[Nottsboy118]

So we enter the first Test match with the same XI that played against Kent. The England team is such a mess that I’m not really sure where to start; Root, Bairstow, Ali, Buttler, Hales, Lawrence, Morgan, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Ball. There are 6 players who didn’t feature against South Africa, no recognised openers, no Cook/Anderson/Broad/Stokes. It really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We win the toss and have ourselves a bat in this day/night game.

We made slow and steady progress although we didn’t look in great shape when we were reduced to 191-6, however up stepped Holder to partner Bravo in a brilliant 140 partnership. Bravo produced the test innings of the year without a doubt scoring a brilliant 178 to leave us in a solid position with 405 on the board.

The bizarre opening pair didn’t last long yet the middle order proved more stubborn, however the real story of this innings was not an England player, as impressive as Ali’s and Lawrence’s centuries were, but Miguel Cummings. Cummings finished with figures of 8-88 coupled with a run-out gave him a hand in 9 of the 10 wickets. The rest of the bowlers offered little but thanks to Cummings’s brilliant effort West Indies ended with a lead of 33.

The gulf in class started to become apparent in the third innings as we struggled. Kyle Hope battled to a very impressive and dogged 64 but there was little else on offer and we managed only 225, giving us 258 to defend. We were going to need some more Cummings magic.

Well that gulf only widened in the fourth innings, after getting Root in the first innings we never looked like forcing a close finish. The attack looked very samey, Bishoo will almost certainly be returning, and the lack of potency remains a problem with just one wicket each for three of the seamers. An 8 wicket loss is disappointing, and it also masks the fact that we were very much in the game at the halfway point.



Awards:

5 – Cummings, he’s looked dangerous in every game but had not got the wickets yet, which he sorted out in sublime fashion with 8 in a single innings

3 – Bravo, in pretty much any other game 178 would’ve got 5 points, he’ll have to settle for three this time though

1 – K. Hope, a fine battling 2^nd innings knock

[GrahamB]

You've taken on a tough challenge. Hope it doesn't get too depressing for you.

[Nottsboy118]

We make on change for the 2^nd test; Bishoo back in for Taylor, even though it looks a seamers pitch we feel that we need more variation in our bowling attack. England make 6 changes as well as altering their order leaving them with; Cook, Jennings, Root, Bairstow, Ali, Balance, Woakes, Dawson, Wood, Broad, Anderson. It seems as if they’re treating this series as one in which to experiment, and this selection looks much stronger without a doubt. We win the toss and bat under cloudy skies hoping that if we survive a tricky first session we can build a decent score.

Unsurprisingly we struggled against the four-pronged attack of Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Wood falling to 187 all out. Hope, a man for the tough occasion, again dug in to 42; he has been a very good find for the Windies, and Bravo notched a good 47 too but the team as a whole fell short of expectations.

We were absolutely ground into the dirt here. Cook and Jennings providing a master class in test match batting, followed by quick acceleration through Root, Bairstow and Ali. 501-3dec gives England a lead of 314, and if we make them bat again it would be a minor miracle.

208 all out and a loss by and innings and 106 runs, resounding. This innings again proved what we already knew, in helpful conditions these bowlers are far too good for our batting line-up.



For the awards:

5 – Holder, his second innings performance showed some grit and he was reasonable with ball in hand too

3 – K. Hope, another gritty innings when all around him was falling to pieces

1 – Bishoo, scored lower order runs in both innings and bowled far better than his figures would suggest

***

We make one change for the final test; Brooks coming in for Dowrich with Hope taking the gloves. England bring in Stokes for Dawson, improving their team further. We lose our first toss of the series and are put in the field.

Well we started well but it soon went downhill as England reached 606-6dec. This series started reasonably promising but it is gradually getting worse and worse and the disparity between the sides is become crystal clear.

Roston Chase hit a fantastic century to take us past the follow on target with a bit of support from Holder and Singh fifties. It’s not been the greatest tour but there have been some bright spots for sure, with this Chase century one of the brightest. If we can bowl solidly and then bat well we should be able to avoid a loss.

We bowled okay; not allowing them to score too quickly to set the game up for themselves. Thus they finished on 253-3dec, meaning we had to bat out around about 100 overs to draw the match.

And we did it easily in the end. Bad light and rain meant we only faced 81 overs, but they were in tricky conditions so to only lose two wickets was a fine effort. Singh got his second fifty of the match whilst Brathwaite saw off 30 overs himself.



The final set of test awards for this tour:

5 – Chase, brilliant century in the first innings prevented us from following on, and the likely loss that would have brought about

3 – Singh, two fifties one dismissal and a fine all round performance

1 – Brathwaite, heading into the final innings England were probably favourites and we needed a few people to stand up, Brathwaite was one of those who did battling for 4 hours exactly

We showed glimpses during the three match series that we could compete but sadly just couldn’t keep the required levels up all the time. Everyone in the XI has produced great innings or spells the challenge remains to turn them into great matches or great series.