England step into West Indies’ cauldron of history and memory seeking their own restitution

A vastly improved performance will be required if Joe Root's side are not to begin their year with a crushing series defeat

Ben Stokes with Adil Rashid during net practice on Tuesday (Getty)

Antigua is a place that exists twice: once in reality, and once in the imaginations of those who visit. Four centuries ago, an administrator called Christopher Codrington set up the first sugar plantation at Betty’s Hope and began importing slaves from Africa to harvest his fortune. Now, the cruise ships and luxury yachts sitting in English Harbour spit out hordes of white people in designer sunglasses, packing out the beaches, frequenting the swish restaurants, marvelling aloud about how relaxed everything is out here.

The image of the sun-kissed island paradise is, of course, one Antigua is often quite happy to project onto itself. After all, tourism accounts for 60 per cent of GDP and more than half of all jobs. Only last week, prime minister Gaston Browne was hobnobbing with the global elite in Davos, trying to drum up investment. From the plantation owners to Allen Stanford, Antigua has spent virtually its entire history as a sort of playground idyll, a vehicle for outside actors to indulge their neo-colonialist fantasies. It’s almost too small to be anything else.

Only on the cricket field, then, has it been able to shatter the idyll and compete on even terms. Antigua and Barbuda only got its independence from Britain in 1981, the same year it hosted its first Test match, with the hometown hero Viv Richards scoring an imperious 114 in front of a capacity crowd. Back then, by all accounts, the Antigua Recreation Ground was a raucous, riotous place, with the constant clatter noise coming from the old Rude Boy Stand, shaking opposition teams from their comfort zone, reminding them they were playing not just 11 players, but a whole nation.

Five years later, Richards hit the fastest century in Test history in Antigua. Eight years after that, Brian Lara broke the world record. Ten years after that, remarkably, he did it again. Four years ago, at the newly built Vivian Richards Stadium across town, a much-maligned West Indies side batted out 130 overs for a draw, with Jason Holder scoring a century. England have still never won here.

And so into this cauldron of history and memory step Joe Root’s side, dreaming of their own restitution. This is, for all its many virtues, a team that seems to need the occasional boot up the backside, and their fans and management will be hoping their miserable week in Barbados can act as a sort of shock therapy. It’s hard to conceive of England playing as badly here as they did there. Nevertheless, a vastly improved performance will be required if they are not to begin their year with a crushing series defeat.

Rory Burns in the nets this week (Reuters)

The strip at the Vivian Richards Stadium is one of the more mercurial in world cricket: by turns batting nirvana, spinner’s dream and pace paradise. It was certainly the latter last summer, when Bangladesh were rolled over for just 43 on the first morning, as the ball darted around like a sprite. Just a few months earlier, by contrast, an England Lions containing Keaton Jennings and Jack Leach were obliterated by West Indies ‘A’ in a game dominated by spin, with Jomel Warrican taking 11 wickets. Once more, England will need to read the pitch with the precision of a codebreaker.

The pitch was being generously watered two days out, which suggests the groundstaff are concerned about it breaking up. There is also a substantial covering of grass, which may well be trimmed before the start of play but which would otherwise give plenty of encouragement to the fast bowlers. It could well be that, encouraged by Barbados, the West Indies are throwing their lot in behind their pace attack. The sight of Root undergoing extra bouncer practice in the nets, with rubber balls slung down into a slab of wet concrete, suggests England may well be thinking the same way.

In which case, Stuart Broad will probably return in place of Adil Rashid, pending a last-minute assessment of conditions. Chris Woakes is struggling with injury and has neither batted nor bowled in net practice; Sam Curran has enough credit in the bank to be forgiven a poor Test in Barbados; Rashid, meanwhile, was poor in Barbados, and with Root working on his canny leg-spinners, England may not necessarily miss his overs. With England not scheduled to play again in Asia until their tour of Sri Lanka in March 2020, it could conceivably be Rashid’s last Test cricket for a while.

The batting will see a reshuffle. Joe Denly got an extended net on Tuesday, as England pondered the possibility of bringing him in as an opener in place of Keaton Jennings, or in place of Ben Foakes, with Jonny Bairstow dropping down the order and taking the gloves. The most probable scenario appeared to be that Jennings would get one more chance, with the knowledge that one big score now would probably secure his Ashes place, but Denly got the nod and will add a spin option as well as some top-order nous.

As for the West Indies, encouragingly few headaches. They are likely to be unchanged, with John Campbell earning another go at the top of the order and Roston Chase again shouldering the spin burden after his eight-wicket burst in Barbados. Coach Richard Pybus has warned his side against complacency, and perhaps their biggest task from here will be to maintain the surging intensity of Barbados, with the knowledge that for all the jubilation of Barbados, their job here is not yet half done.