By Tony Cozier
In LONDON
Entering the two Tests of the return contest that starts at Lord’s this morning, West Indies head coach John Dyson is realistic enough not to expect England to be again, in his words, “caught on the hop” as they recently were in the Caribbean.
The consequent 1-0 defeat and the surrender of the Wisden Trophy they had held for nine years was the price they paid for dismissing their determined opponents as easy-beats and regarding the exercise as no more than preparation for Australia and the Ashes later in the year.
“We went to the West Indies expecting to win and probably underestimated them a bit,” England opener Alistair Cook acknowledged yesterday.
“We won’t be doing that this time, we want that trophy back,” he added.
It is an attitude that may be difficult to erase. The truth is the West Indies’ three build-up matches over the past two weeks have advanced a pretty strong case for more English complacency.
In spite of unusually fine weather for late spring, they could only manage unimpressive draws against Leicestershire and Essex, two counties below full strength, before the first credible opposition they confronted, England’s wannabes playing under the title the English Lions, thrashed them by 10 wickets with a day to spare.
It has been a nightmare throwback to the dark days of West Indies drubbings in England in the past decade and has interrupted the dream of the slow, steady revival of the previous two years.
They were rolled over for 146, 203 and 179 in their last three innings, their deficiencies exposed by the type of swing and seam bowling that are the perennial hallmarks of England’s attacks.
England have included four such bowlers in their twelve – the established Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad and the newcomers from the county scene, Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions. There could be more movements for the West Indies batsmen to contend with than seen at Mashramani.
Lendl Simmons, whose previous experiences of English conditions have been with the Under-15s at the international Costcutter Cup in 2000 and the ‘A’ teams of 2002 and 2006, has had the solitary hundred, 102 in the opening match against Leicestershire. He followed with 68 in the second innings against the Lions when the last six wickets tumbled for 25.
The inevitable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the left-hander Brendan Nash and the all-rounder Dave Bernard are the only others to have passed 50 in the four innings.
The bowlers, all either with limited experience of English conditions or none at all, have similarly struggled.
They could not convert a first innings lead of 138 into last day victory over Leicestershire. When they had their hands around the Lions’ throat at 117 for six they couldn’t maintain the grip and the total mounted to 311.
Even the usually efficient wicket-keeping of Denesh Ramdin has conceded 63 byes in four innings.
It means that there are several unsettled places for the final eleven with what captain Chris Gayle noted at yesterday’s media conference “a few strugglers in the side”.
Gayle himself at the top or the order, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Brendon Nash in the middle, Ramdin and fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards are the only certainties. After that, anyone can play.
At least they can anticipate what appears a typically good Lord’s pitch and a forecast of fair, if not hot sunny, weather.
To much criticism, most in the media here, Gayle and Edwards were late arrivals. Both were otherwise engaged in the IPL in South Africa to which they were contracted before the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) belatedly agreed to this tour as a late replacement for Sri Lanka.
Edwards came in on Sunday, Gayle on Monday morning, both proclaiming that they are ready and raring to go.
It was cutting it fine but they have been playing cricket at a high level, albeit the 20 overs format. As there is only an hour’s time difference between England and South Africa, jet lag should not be a factor in their readiness.
Gayle defended his absence at the media conference yesterday, stating that “we all knew the situation”.
The WICB could have insisted that he commit to all of the tour or not tour at all but it set a precedent with the first IPL last year when it allowed Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo to extend their stays in India and so miss a preparation camp for the home series against Australia.
“It is nothing knew,” Gayle said. “There was debate about it but we discussed it all with the board members and were given permission to be back at a particular time.”
He described the West Indies captaincy as “a privilege”.
When asked if the players had missed him as their leader, he quipped: “Of course the guys missed me, man. When I’m around there’s a lot more happiness and joy.”
More seriously, he said he had spoken to the players and told them to put their disappointing start behind them and concentrate on what’s ahead.
“The real challenge starts now,” he said. “We are now home at them and it’s going to be more of a challenge than in the West Indies.”
It is a self-evident truth.
Teams:
West Indies (from):
Chris Gayle (captain), Sulieman Benn, Dave Bernard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Brendon Nash, Nelon Pascal, Denesh Ramdin, Dale Richards, Andrew Richardson, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor.
England (from):
Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann.
Umpires: Steve Davis (Australia), Asoka deSilva (Sri Lanka). Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe).