Spin the way to victory?
Luke Dunning argues that it's time for Raheem at Old Trafford
In the build-up to the Wisden Trophy, there was a lot of talk about both England and the West Indies’ batting as well as the strength of both team’s seam attack. What has been largely ignored, however, is how pivotal spin could prove to be in this series.
England decided to go with Dom Bess for this First Test at the Ageas Bowl with the West Indies opting for pace and Roston Chase. The flexibility of Roston Chase gave the Windies a player who has had previous success against this England side with both bat and ball, but fans of the West Indies and world cricket must be disappointed that they didn’t get to see Rakheem Cornwall showcase his ability.
In this first test, both England and the Windies went with a line-up of 6 batters (1 batting all-rounder), a keeper and 4 bowlers – only England picked a specialist out-right spinner.
As previously mentioned, Chase had previous success against England in the 2019 Wisden Trophy, albeit in the Caribbean, and his all-round skills were handy for the West Indies again in the first test (2/71). However I really feel spin will have a bigger part to play in this series.
Old Trafford is more spin friendly than the Ageas Bowl, Moeen Ali has found success in the 5 innings he has bowled there where he has taken 16 wickets at 18.50. Before Moeen, Monty Panesar also found success with 25 wickets in the 6 innings he played there, averaging 16.72 in the process.
The research here provides a glimmer of hope for the West Indies, the first one has to be the omission of Moeen Ali. His aforementioned records at both Ageas Bowl and Old Trafford are brilliant and even though the West Indies line up has a decent record against spin, Moeen took 9 wickets against India who are arguably the best players of spin in Test Match Cricket.
Secondly, in Rahkeem Cornwall West Indies have an off-spinner that that can potentially replicate Moeen’s success.
Cornwall is just two tests into his career but his performance against Afghanistan in India could be enough proof that he could exploit the conditions he will be presented with. Cornwall took 10-121 in that Test Match and there is a huge amount of anticipation to see if he can perform here in this series.
His non-selection in the First Test is sure to motivate him to prove himself, I think Old Trafford may be the venue for him especially with the focus on the seam attack, the big man could slip under the radar.
In many ways it is arguable that the West Indies should have played two spinners from the off in this series. Whilst the conditions they were met with on the day of the Ageas Bowl Test made their selection understandable. There was an option to have gone with the same four seamers picked and looked to bat Dowrich and Holder in the top 7 and Cornwall at 8.
Below is the team I would pick for Old Trafford.
MY CHOICE FOR OLD TRAFFORD
BRAITWAITE
CAMPBELL
BROOKS/HOPE/BLACKWOOD (one to go*)
CHASE
DOWRICH+
HOLDER*
CORNWALL
JOSEPH
ROACH
GABRIEL
I don’t believe an outright batsman would do any better or worse than Dowrich/Holder at 6/7. For the West Indies to win at least one of the Old Trafford tests, the top four need to score runs allowing the bowlers to take wickets as quick as possible.
Holder and Dowrich stack up compared to the other batsmen and given the likelihood at Old Trafford for the ball to spin the West Indies may well need to look to Cornwall.
If the conditions stay dry, it shouldn’t be a surprise if Shannon Gabriel’s main support this series becomes Cornwall and Chase. If these two follow the trend of Moeen Ali in previous times, it could be an unexpected route to success for the West indies.
Article edited by Machel St Patrick Hewitt
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