 Not many would have forgotten the memorable Test series that was played between
the West Indies and the visiting English side just about a couple of
months ago. It was a dramatic series that West Indies managed to hold on to
after having secured a win in the 1st Test of the 5-match rubber. Each of the
other 4 Tests were drawn with some of them providing thrilling finishes. One
can only hope that we get to see yet another close series between these two
sides as they face off in the 1st Test of the return series, to be played at
Lord's. However, the visiting side have not had the greatest of warm-ups or
preparation so far, neither on the field nor off it.
The cold conditions alongwith the different wickets in England was always going
to be a challenge for the West Indian batsmen and the team's practice games
only went on to show the extent of challenge that lies ahead of them. They were
beaten by 10-wickets against the England Lions and prior to that, the team had
been bowled out for a mere 146 against Essex in another 3-day game. Apart from
rookie opening batsman Lendl Simmons and Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
none of the other batsman have shown any promise to score many on the tour.
Apart from these issues on the field, news that the captain Chris Gayle was
to arrive only 48 hours prior to the Test didn't go down too well with coach,
John Dyson. Gayle was granted special permission by his board to stay on for
one additional game in the IPL which meant that he was in South Africa till
Sunday. Dyson however hoped that his captain would fire when its needed and
lead the team by example.
England will take this series as serious preparation to the upcoming Ashes
and new coach Andy Flower has already started to put his plans in place by nominating
Ravi Bopara to bat at no. 3. He was preferred ahead of Ian Bell, Owais Shah
and former captain Micheal Vaughan. It will also be interesting to see
if Graeme Swann can get a game or will Monty Panesar be chosen ahead of him.
Many now regard Swann to be England's premier spin bowler but he's yet to play
a Test in his home country. A major relief for the English camp would have been
the positive comments emanating from star batsman Kevin Pietersen on his relationship
with Andy Flower. Pietersen who's had a frosty relationship with Flower in the
past said that he now shares an extremely good rapport with the coach and that
he's been a 'superstar' on the tour so far.
The 1st of the 2 Tests starts at 11am local time tomorrow and Andrew Strauss would
be hoping to set the record straight by registering his maiden series triumph
after being appointed the England captain on a full-time basis.
|
