Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

It is at least a little disconcerting to be reminded that the apex of West Indies long domination over England's is now 33 years ago, the whitewash of 1986. Looking up the series the two countries played 33 years before that (the two all draw of 1953) I see the batting was dominated by Clyde Walcott and Len Hutton, the bowling by Sonny Ramadhin and Brian Statham which gives some impression of how long ago that 5-0 is now. To those of us approaching retirement at least.

And yet, through the long slow decline of West Indies cricket England have only briefly dominated in the Caribbean. They have still only won three series over there, and merely one since the West Indies hegemony ended; the victory which announced the emergence of England's great if transitory side of the mid noughties which won 3-0 in 2004. Against England at least, West Indies have mostly kept their pride buoyant in their own legendary stadiums. They drew in 2015 after being written off by the England head of admin. And won in 2009.

Tomorrow at 14.00 GMT England will start another series of three Tests in the holiday resorts of the Caribbean, commencing at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. And there is little evidence that England will find it any easier this time. In fact there is a whisper of a rumour of a renaissance in West Indies cricket. England will at least face a settled and full strength side, fortified by the return of Darren Bravo from his exile. If the soul of the great West Indies side was located on the island of Barbados, it has a strong presence in the current squad, including captain Jason Holder, opening bat, Kraigg Brathwaite, key middle order batter Roston Chase, keeper Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope who scored heavily in England a couple of years ago, and resurgent paceman Kemar Roach. They may never get stands named after them, but they and the rest of the current squad, especially under 19 World Cup winners Oshane Thomas and Shimron Hetmyer bring the tangy flavour of hope.

England have been in their own doldrums lately but back to back series wins against India and Sri Lanka suggest their recovery has at least managed to catch a breeze and the shape of a new side is emerging out of the long fog of the post Andy Flower era. There will be an interesting clash of the pace attacks with Shannon Gabriel (19.5), Jason Holder (12.4), and Kemar Roach (22.3) all averaging less than the more lauded England fast bowlers last year. Of course, the West Indies batting is fragile and inconsistent, but at least a familiar batting line up has settled in the eleven.

I see no reason why this England side should dominate the series. We've been told to expect it in the past and it hasn't come to be. I'm expecting a close contest, and maybe even a West Indies win if they have the run of the toss.

Cricinfo's guesses on the line ups.

West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Jomel Warrican, 11 Shannon Gabriel.

England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Keaton Jennings, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Sam Curran, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson.

The Guardian has the same line up but suggests Broad is out because he isn't considered good enough to bat at nine!

Great intro AC.

As I think I pointed out in another thread, the averages of the West Indies pacemen in 2018 are a little flattering, based as they are on seven games against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, primarily at home. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that they're on form, and combined with England's fragile top order I suspect we're in for the familiar pattern of England ending up 70-3 before stabilising with the lower order. The (apparent) selection of Curran over Broad all but confirms that the selectors have no faith in their top order. I mean seriously, for all Curran's talent, I can't see why you'd pick him over Broad as a bowler.

The 2009 series leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth still. England were blown away in Jamaica, which was fair enough due to their own incompetence and some inspired bowling from Jerome Taylor, but having gone 1-0 up, the West Indies then prepared roads for the rest of the series to ensure that lead was maintained. 500 played 500 in all but one of the remaining tests, the lowest match aggregate after that was 1400 runs. The Barbados test was the worst - so flat you could have played for 10 days and not got a result - nearly 1700 runs were scored for just 17 wickets. Awful.

That Barbados test has an average of 95 runs per wicket - 5th highest ever (three of the higher were in the subcontinent, and one was heavily rain-affected, so doesn't really count).

The three tests post Jamaica in that 2009 series had a batting aggregate of 54.43 runs per wicket, which is the third highest aggregate in any series of three or more matches.

Like I said, I'm still bitter...

Had a feeling England had a couple of sniffs in that series.

Yes, England had WI nine down in St John's and eight down in Port of Spain in the fourth innings.

But a tough series for the bowlers, Kingston apart.

Ah well. Ancient history. And perhaps we should be thankful, as it gave Moores the boot, Flower came in, and it gave the batting line-up the kick up the bum they needed to go on and compete in the Ashes later that summer.

I'd take a loss to WI here if it means we can win in the summer...

I agree we should not expect things to be easy given West Indies have , even recently , tended to perform a little better than expected against touring England teams . However I do think England ought to be confident (not over-confident ! Was that a large factor in the surprising drawn series in 2015 ?) as this time they travel with apparent team harmony , some confidence from recent success , and perhaps a more diverse mix of options in bowling than has previously been the case.

Will still need to get selection right - and be mindful when batting that there is a third way between timid strokelessness and full-on t20 style attack at all costs...

West Indies bowling - as noted , including several with fine recent records - will probably challenge that still unproven top order ; but I fancy the batting depth to still ensure decent totals ...and I am not sure the host's batting will be able to do the same against a very handy England attack.

If I had to make a guess : 2-0 to England.

Good points alfie.

I reckon 1-1, as I reckon England's batting will collapse sufficiently at least once for the West Indies to claim a win. But I'm not very good at predictions...

A very interesting read Arthur, and it was a very kind piece.

However, after our thrashing in Bangladesh, I am not so confident.

Series between West Indies and England always start with a consideration of whether WI are on their way back!

although at the moment WI are mostly getting criticised for just playing their best against england.

on paper it is a decent WI team so not really sure what to make of the series, reckon it will be 2-1 to england.

2 edges for four from Campbell

Seems to be playing away from his body, youd fancy getting him caught behind if he doesn't tighten up

Curran all over the place at the moment