West Indies vs England: Five things the England selectors still need to ponder

From Alastair Cook's form to James Anderson and the rest of the bowling attack

Alastair Cook looks on after being caught for 13 (Getty Images)

Cook's form

Until and unless he scores another Test century, Alastair Cook's place as captain will continue to be questioned. There is – as yet – no mass movement towards dropping him altogether but even his greatest supporters may be coming round to the view that relieving him of the leadership responsibility would allow him to concentrate on recovering the form that made him the most reliable opening batsman in the world.

Still, it is slightly misleading to point to the fact that he has not made a hundred in 33 innings. He still managed to average above 40 in the series against India last summer, which he finished with three fifties.

It should be recalled that within living memory Mike Brearley, also largely an opening batsman, played 66 Test innings and never made a century. No one called him a bad captain, partly because he won two Ashes series.

The comparison is slightly odious given Brearley’s standing as a captain, but if Cook were to go, then who would be his successor? That is not an easy question to answer but what the selectors cannot do again is what they did with the one-day captaincy by prolonging the agony.

In any case, England won three consecutive Tests under Cook last summer and have dominated at the next time of asking in this one in Antigua against West Indies. His side looked hungry for victory on the fifth day and set aggressive fields, asking questions of their opponents’ nerve.

The Trott question

Recalling a player who was forced to quit an Ashes tour because of his mental anguish was always imbued with risk. No one wished Jonathan Trott anything but success when he was picked as an opener in the first Test against West Indies, a position with which he was wholly unfamiliar.

His recovery from the stress-related condition which had dogged his recent career seemed complete. Trott himself on the eve of the match said he had learned to cope, simply by not being obsessive about the game any longer, by recognising there were other matters to worry about.

Sadly Trott failed twice in the first Test against the West Indies (Getty Images)

Sadly, he failed twice in the match, scoring nought and four. On both occasions he was the victim of good balls which might have accounted for any other opener at the start of an innings. But in the second, especially, he did not present himself at the crease as a specialist opener should.

Trott seemed anxious and that was reflected in an inability to stay still as the bowler approached. He was walking down the pitch, apparently without purpose, and was in no position to defend the ball that dismissed him.

The second Test in Grenada assumes a deep significance for him, especially with Cook so short of runs and Adam Lyth in the wings. It is to be hoped the selectors knew what they were doing.

The middle order

This was as potent as the opening pair was impotent. There were hundreds for the No 3, Gary Ballance, and the No 4, Ian Bell, and fifties for the No 5, Joe Root (two, in his case) and the No 6, Ben Stokes. All looked authoritative against bowling which could not sustain its new ball on a flat pitch. Stokes leaves England with a problem, which may be a good problem to have but is still a problem.

Moeen Ali, who spent last summer in the all-rounder’s berth at six and was hugely impressive for most of the time, is joining the squad in Grenada after recovering from his side injury. It will be tempting to put him straight in and drop one of the other bowlers.

It will be tempting to put Moeen Ali back into the team (Getty Images)

But Stokes looks as if he could be a once-in-a-generation cricketer. He will not always succeed and will occasionally be maddening in his failures but he is an inspired, natural player who can win games in a flash with both bat and ball. Stokes does not take a backward step.

Perhaps everyone will have to move down one, which will leave England a little top-heavy with batting – except at the top.

Anderson’s record

Without anyone setting out to make it so – indeed quite the reverse – Jimmy Anderson’s 100th Test, in which he was forever on the cusp of breaking Sir Ian Botham’s record total of Test wickets for England, was a distraction. He finally equalled it on the fifth morning and will have known then, if he did not before, just how hard it is for his type in the modern game.

A lot of nonsense was talked in the aftermath of Anderson’s achievement about him being one of the all-time greats. That he is not, being 14th on the all-time list. But he has been a considerable bowler of his generation, who has bowled more balls for England than anyone previously.

James Anderson celebrates after equalling Ian Botham's wicket record for England (Getty Images)

Still a master craftsman who can manipulate the movement of the ball in millimetres and can do it either way, he should perhaps take more wickets than he does. It is remarkable that his appetite for the big time shows no sign of waning and at 32 he is being perfectly sincere when he insists he wants to continue for a few years yet. On the sort of bland pitches where he usually has to operate that is remarkable in itself.

The rest of the bowling

What England lacked in Antigua, what all sides crave anywhere, is something a little different. Their four seamers, perfectly passable bowlers, all looked much the same, offering a similar pace and similar virtues.

It was always likely to take hard work to winkle out 20 West Indies wickets on an unforgiving surface and they toiled manfully. But in reserve England had Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood, the two fastest bowlers in the party.

Pace always troubles batsmen. Plunkett looked incisive when he played last summer and Wood is a confident, bustling, accurate type who knows what he has. Selectors do not often receive much credit but in plumping for him after only 17 games over four seasons, they have done their job properly. By the end of this series he should be given a game.