England Tour of West Indies 2022 - T20 & Tests

WI President's XI v England XI Antigua day 4
ENG XI 466-6 dec & 164-4 dec (39 overs) Lawrence 48 Foakes 43 no Crawley 35
WI President's XI 264 & 123-7 (52.2 overs) Carty 49 Solozana 32 Overton 2-12 Stokes 2-21 Leach 2-25
Match Drawn

West Indies v England 1st Test North Sound Day 1
England won the toss & elected to bat
ENG 268-6 (86 overs) Bairstow 109 no Stokes 56 Foakes 42 Holder 2-15 Seales 2-64 Roach 2-71

England Lees, Crawley, Root ©, Lawrence, Stokes, Bairstow, Foakes (wk), Woakes, C Overton, Wood, Leach
West Indies K Brathwaite( ©, Campbell, Brooks, Bonner, Blackwood, Holder, de Silva (wk), Joseph, Roach, Permaul, Seales

So England's batters made their customary awful start, but Jonny Bairstow saved the day with an unbeaten century, coming in at 48/4 and guiding England to 268/6 at the close. It was nice to see Foakes get runs too, 42 anyway, as I strongly think he should have played more tests than he has. By the way, this is the first time that England have played the rhyming names of Foakes, Stokes and Woakes in a real match, although they did play together in a warm-up fixture a couple of years ago.

^^ Root did h right thing at the toss, this wicket is expected to deteriorate. West Indies bowled well in the first session, as they exploited the movement on offer, mainly swing. It was a first for Root, out without playing a shot, but this batting line-up can't continue to b carried by his runs alone. In h 2nd session Bairstow & Stokes dug in as conditions eased, the bowling was less effective. Stokes has been able to eat up balls, but only showing glimpses of his best, w nd h old Stokes back. Bairstow played the situation perfectly with 2 contrasting 50's, he was able to accelerate as the ball got old, as he added 99 runs with an impressive looking Foakes.
Another 50 runs would get England to a par score, the first hour will have to be negotiated with the 2nd new ball just 6 overs old. Both these sides have issues with their batting, I don't expect to see any drawn Tests.

West Indies v England 1st Test North Sound Antigua Day 2 Tea
ENG 311 (100.3 overs) Bairstow 140 Seales 4-79 Holder 2-24 Joseph 2-70 Roach 2-86
WI 202-4 (66.5 overs) Brathwaite 55 Holder 43 no Campbell 35 Bonner 34 no

So having Woakes and Overton opening the bowling for England didn't work out too well. Dare I ask where are Anderson and Broad when you need them? Anyway, the match is nicely balanced. The bookmakers are finding it difficult to call and have England as very marginal favourites at this point.

^^ Apparently it was statistically the 3rd worst opening bowling spell by England in the last 10 years. Massive pressure on Woakes to deliver overseas, much of his previous record would be as first change. Overton maybe only playing due to Robinson being unfit, not his type of surface to bowl on. In the absence of the big 2, it seems like an opportunity missed, when you have a 90+ mph bowler in Wood, why let the openers get their eye in before he's brought into the attack. The first few balls are vital, & often batsmen are undone with lack of footwork, Wood is the best bowler to exploit any batsmen's weaknesses, & should be used whenever a new batsmen is at the the crease, whenever possible. He should not only take the new ball, but bowl the first over.

^^ agree with that , Woakes needs to show hes not just a English green top bowler, and for me Overton is always at his best as the first change as hes always had issues controlling the hard new ball, Wood needs as you say be looking to nip a couple out at the start , England always seam to play things to safe at the moment not really going all out for the win,

(10-03-2022 12:28 )William H Bonney Wrote:  So having Woakes and Overton opening the bowling for England didn't work out too well. Dare I ask where are Anderson and Broad when you need them? Anyway, the match is nicely balanced. The bookmakers are finding it difficult to call and have England as very marginal favourites at this point.

Re Anderson/Broad. My suspicious mind leads me to think that they have been left behind - maybe to plan for when they are not there - but maybe - just maybe - due to England believing that the WI are there for the taking , and they don't need their talismanic bowlers. A different opposition, (guess who??) perhaps a different outlook on whether Broad/Anderson services are needed?? Or maybe it points to their position on the World Test Championship