England have made full use of their warm-up match against Cricket West Indies President’s XI and this could spell trouble for West Indies in the opening Test that begins tomorrow in Antigua.
West Indies will certainly have their hands full if they want to continue their feat of one losing series at home to the visitors since 1969.
England’s XI posted 466 for six declared and 164 for four declared with four batsmen reaching a half century to go along with Jonny Bairstow’s ton and three scores in the 40s.
With no Rory Burns in the side, a half century by Alex Lees has built a strong case for him to open alongside Zak Crawley with England captain, Joe Root to come next. Sam Billings, who made his debut against Australia back in January, is also out the squad and that could pave the way for Ben Foakes to take up the gloves with Bairstow playing as a batsman.
The English bowling line up however, may not be as settled as their batting with stalwarts with James Anderson and Stuart Broad not selected. To further complicate things, Ollie Robinson suffered back spasms and is out of the first Test.
It is likely Chris Woakes and Craig Overton will open the bowling with Mark Wood and Ben Stokes the other pacers in the XI. However, should Wood not fully recover from an illness, uncapped Saqib Mahmood could make his debut. Jack Leach, who enjoyed success with six wickets in the warm-up match will play the role of primary spinner.
For the West Indies, seasoned campaigners Kemar Roach and Jason Holder are expected to lead the West Indies bowling attack with young pacers, Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales also in the mix. Uncapped Anderson Phillip may find it hard to make his debut in this opening Test with left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul the specialist spinner in the side.
With regards to the batting line up, opener John Campbell makes his return to the Test squad after scoring heavily in the first two rounds of the West Indies Championship and could reprise his role at the top of the order with skipper, Kraigg Brathwaite who had been accompanied by Vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood as a makeshift opener.
Blackwood could now find himself back in the middle order with Nkrumah Bonner, Kyle Mayers and Joshua Da Silva. This could further delay a return to Test for 33-year-old Shamarh Brooks whose last Test came against New Zealand in 2020.
This is the first time these two teams will play a Test in almost two years with England winning three of their last five encounters including the most recent pair of matches.
