Where the Test was really won

Karthikeya Manchala looks back at what the WI can learn from the 1st test

The first test in the West Indies tour of England was a thriller. The West Indies sneaked through by four wickets with the performance before much built on the ethos of a team performance. There were notable contributions from five players in particular - Jermaine Blackwood, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich.

However, there were also five rather unnoticed aspects of West Indies’ performance that were extremely crucial to their victory.

1. Blackwood against the short ball

When Jermaine Blackwood strode out to bat in the first innings, Sky Cricket, the broadcasters of the match showed a highlights reel which put Blackwood’s historic weakness against the short ball in the limelight.

In his last stint in test match cricket (excluding the India test where he played as a substitute), Blackwood struggled to read the short ball and often fended it off uncomfortably into the leg side. He is a natural strokemaker, and it was clear that he would not simply duck under everything, especially when Wood, Archer and Stokes were repeatedly testing him. 

Blackwood initially attempted a pull shot which was badly executed. Playing cross-batted pulls was a very difficult proposition on the surface as seen in the previous innings where Joe Denly and even Ben Stokes struggled to middle their pulls. To his credit, Blackwood found another way - he started playing the upper cut or ramp over third man after settling in. This was incredibly productive. He missed only one attempted ramp, picked up two boundaries and a handful of ones and twos. This was one of the cornerstones of his innings because it put the English bowlers off their lengths and forced them to bowl into his arc, the fuller length where he averages over 50.

2. Gabriel’s long spells

Shannon Gabriel, two years ago, was known for his short and rapid spells. It was often his first spell that was most effective, after which he often tired out and dropped pace. Gabriel gets minimal movement in the air and off the pitch, so it is imperative that he is bowling at full pace to be consistently threatening. Gabriel’s evolution as a bowler has been underpinned by the work he has put into his fitness. This enables him to bowl longer spells and maintain his pace.

In this test, however, Gabriel took that to a completely new level. Even the new version of Gabriel has been encountered by some fitness issues which were in the spotlight in the build up to this match. He squashed all doubts when he was called on to bowl his 15th over in the second innings after a long day in the field on Day 4. Gabriel still managed to bowl over 85 mph and blasted out the stumps of Ollie Pope and Dom Bess.

3. Running between the wickets 

The new crop of batsmen emerging from the Caribbean are known not to take quick singles or rotate strike, but deal in dots or boundaries particularly in the shorter format of the game. While they have built a T20 dynasty with this tactic, it can be detrimental in test cricket. The inability to rotate strike often leads to an unnecessary attacking shot that produces a wicket.

In this test however, the West Indies got 58% of their runs in non-boundary shots, as opposed to England whose figure was 50%. Most of the batsmen were intent to push the ball into gaps and run quick singles and doubles.

If done consistently this puts the bowler off their rhythm because it is difficult to set up a batsman if they can rotate strike often. The West Indies were rewarded for their intent with special mention to Blackwood, who is known to be one of the quickest cricketers in Jamaica alongside Rovman Powell, he was especially brilliant at pushing for extra runs.

4. Soaking up high pace bowling

When England dropped Stuart Broad for Mark Wood, more than a few eyebrows were raised. But a large part of the thinking behind that selection can potentially be attributed to the St. Lucia test in 2019. Wood took 5/41 in the first innings and unsettled every batsman with his raw pace. This time, he was paired up with pace sensation Jofra Archer as the duo looked to bowl some spicy spells against the West Indian batsmen who were coming in short on confidence.

The West Indies didn’t give in so easily this time, however both Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite in particular were excellent. They patiently left any balls that they didn’t need to play at and comfortably nudged balls bowled at their body. In the first innings, Brathwaite soaked up 125 balls and Chase faced 142.

Their defensive technique forced Wood and Archer to bowl more effort balls and shorter than they usually would, making them less effective in later spells. While Archer delivered a masterclass in the second innings, he still picked up only three wickets in the entire test. Wood only picked up two, one of which was Gabriel’s.

5. Combining defensive and attacking bowling

Under Jason Holder, the West Indies test side has come a long way. One thing they haven’t done, however, is cultivate a habit of winning consistently. As a result, they have a notorious record of squandering any advantage they accumulate in their first innings. A similar pattern seemed to be emerging when the pitch had considerably flattened out on Day 4, with England’s top order looking assured. Roach and Gabriel started off on the attack and were unlucky not to pick up a wicket.

Bad luck usually leads to frustrated spells however on this occasion the West Indies maintained their discipline.

As the partnerships built, Holder employed more defensive strategies to ensure England did not build too significant a lead when the conditions were relatively easy. Holder and Roach bowled long spells and dried up the runs by boring the batsmen on a tight line outside off stump and Roston Chase bowled to a predominantly leg side field. The switch was flipped once the second new ball was taken.

England hadn’t built a satisfactory lead and Holder made the big breakthrough of Stokes. Then, Alzarri Joseph, who had bowled very little earlier in the day, had all the energy saved up to bowl a defining spell as he prized out Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler.

Article edited by Machel St Patrick Hewitt

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