Zak Crawley and Joe Root Score Hundreds of Second-Inning Innings at Antigua; Chris Woakes’ away record in Test matches remains a concern, while Alex Lees suffers from a poor scoring debut; Mark Wood’s elbow problem leaves England with concerns ahead of second Test in Barbados from Wednesday
A first-order meltdown in the early innings and then a struggle to remove home wickets: England’s red-ball restart initially felt more like a red-ball replay.
But thanks to centuries from Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley and Joe Root and spin bowling from Jack Leach, the new era began with a draw against the West Indies. At one point late in day five, even a win seemed possible.
Here, we see the good and the bad for England in Antigua…
Bairstow and Crawley started the punishing Ashes series 4-0 from the sidelines, but now look pretty solid after good innings against Australia with tons in the Caribbean.
Bairstow, who scored England’s only ashes century in Sydney before a thumb injury ruled him out of Game 5 in Hobart, revived England from 48-4 in the first inning in Antigua with 140 sometimes nuggets and sometimes flowing of 259. installments, its highest test score since 2016.
While the Yorkshireman was rising as a white-ball force, his red-ball returns became slimmer, averaging under 31 in Test cricket in 2018, under 19 in 2019 and under 25 in 2021. .
But perhaps armed with the knowledge that at 32 years of age and with more than 80 Tests behind him, any further trouble could spell the end of his Test career, Bairstow has responded with tons in successive matches.
An adjustment in his hitting technique also appears to have played a role.
Since making 267 against Pakistan in August 2020, Crawley had only broken the half-century mark twice in 21 Test innings. All that would change in the second inning against the West Indies.
The 24-year-old was England’s top scorer with a masterful 121, repaying the faith that has been shown in him. Hopefully, from England’s point of view, this will be the start of the man from Kent finally realizing his undoubted potential.
It was also a great second inning from Joe Root, having started his move back to No. 3 in the batting order with being fired for 13 in the first inning.
Once again, he had to come in with England one down early on, but this time he dug in with Crawley and helped propel the tourists into a statement.
Root’s 109 was his 24th Test century and his third batting at No. 3. Not only that, but he overtook Kevin Pietersen on England’s all-time century makers list.
The value of him moving up one place in the order is obvious: include him before the crisis and not after it has already happened.
If there was one player that really underscored his value to the England team in this game it was his left-arm spin, although his contributions on the ball in both tackles were perhaps overshadowed by the fact that the game ended in a draw.
Leach finished with bowling figures of 5-136, taking two wickets in the first inning and three in the second, but a deeper dig reveals just how valuable those contributions were, particularly on a field that offered little for bowlers anywhere. equipment.
His 43.3 overs in the West Indies first innings saw him produce a measly economy rate of just 1.81 runs per over, as well as shipping 20 maidens. The 30-year-old’s economy barely topped that in the second inning, at 1.88.
An indication of the impact he was having came from the fact that Root threw the new ball at him after the West Indies were poised to win 286 and on another day he could easily have had more than three wickets in the second inning had fortune had it. favored. However, this was just what Leach needed after a hard run of Ashes.
The difference between Woakes’ bowling record in England and on the road is stark: at home, he is an outright weapon averaging under 23 in Test cricket, better than Stuart Broad and James Anderson. But away from home, that rises to 54. It has significantly less impact on conditions abroad.
With Broad and Anderson out of this tour, a move that has caused consternation in some quarters, Woakes was given the new ball and had a chance to set the tone in the West Indies’ first innings. He didn’t take it.
The closer sent in 23 runs in his first three overs, which came in the midst of a 10-over team that CricViz called England’s third least threatening new-ball explosion in the last 10 years. He sprayed the ball to either side of the wicket and the West Indies cashed in.
Woakes got better as the innings went on and indeed the game went on, but his away numbers really can’t be sugar coated. If he was hoping to shut down the conversation about why Broad and Anderson aren’t here and he is, he really didn’t.
The opening partnership has been a problem area for England recently and they unveiled a different one for this test as Crawley was joined by debutant Alex Lees.
