The West Indies coaching ranks seem to be banking heavily on unleashing a barrage of pace against England for the upcoming three-match Test series against England starting July 8.
The foregoing is reminiscent of the West Indies’ glory days and certainly invokes a sense of excitement.
That approach, if well-executed, would most likely ruffle the feathers of an inexperienced England batting line up. Outside of the skipper Joe Root and all-rounder Ben Stokes, the rest of the likely batting line up is low on international experience.
There is no doubting the ability of Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope but the growth of speedster Kemar Roach, along with Shannon Gabriel who was recently added to the West Indies squad, could create the type of fireworks needed to get the hosts hopping around the crease.
That game plan is similar to the one used against the England batsmen the last time the two sides met in the Caribbean during the 2019 series when Jason Holder’s men triumphed 2-1.
Roach led the way then with 18 wickets, a best of 5-17, and an average of under 14. He was the top wicket-taker during that series ahead of England’s Moeen Ali (14) and Stokes (10), the other two leading wicket-takers. Alzarri Joseph was also among the wickets, ending the series with 10 scalps while Gabriel snatched nine. Skipper Jason Holder, who featured in two of the three test matches during that series walked away with seven wickets.
So, the approach seems plausible. The West Indies do have the seam bowling stocks to command the attention of the Englishmen and certainly moreso in the seam-friendly conditions in England.
Gabriel agrees, saying the aggressive plan shouldn’t change too much ahead of the series.
“I don’t think the plans should change too much from what we did in the Caribbean. We used pace and that worked. What we did was successful. I don’t think we should fix anything that is not broken,” Gabriel, a veteran of 45 test matches said a few days ago.
The men from the Caribbean have also brought in reinforcements with Barbadian quickie Chemar Holder, set to make his debut. Chemar Holder, who was a member of the 2016 ICC under – 19 World Cup winning team along with his fast bowling counterpart Joseph, had an outstanding first-class championship, snatching 36 wickets at just under 19 runs apiece for champions Barbados Pride and emerged as the leading fast bowler in the tournament.
The 22-year-old bowled with pace and aggression in tandem with the likes of test seamer Roach and his performances saw him force his way into the 14-man squad for the three-Test series.
The fast bowling department is certainly showing encouraging signs. Since 2017, Roach, Gabriel, and Jason Holder have been among the top performers at the international level, sharing 205 wickets among them.
Brace yourself! It will be coming thick and fast England.
