The West Indies team faces off against England in the first Test match starting May 17 at Lords and indications are that the contest would not be easy for the West Indies.
West Indies selectors have chosen to tour England with a very thin side, which poses no real threat to the opposition. Denesh Ramdin has replaced Carlton Baugh Jr, Kraig Brathwaite has been dropped but no meaningful changes have been made to give England a tough fight on their home soil. Marlon Samuels’ return gives the team a little boost with the batting.
Chris Gayle And Sunil Narine Are Match Winners
Windies selectors and the WICB are still not making the best efforts to have the most capable players that will best serve the team. Every effort should be made to have Sunil Narine and Chris Gayle for the Test matches at all times when the West Indies are contesting.
Gayle and Narine are playing in the IPL and their unavailabilty puts the West Indies in a weaker position to defeat any major opposition. Some of the West Indies batsmen are still in the learning phase and they are far from ready for the high-level competition. That has been shown against Australia and England has a strong balanced squad. England’s James Anderson bowls very well at home. He is a brilliant and consistent wicket taker. He moves the ball around very well and he is highly experienced.
Superb English Batting
Jonathon Jrott and Ian Bell will be the batsmen to give the West Indies a tough challenge. They love to spend a long time at the wicket and are very good at playing spin and pace. Test cricket is their first choice in scoring runs.
Kirk Edwards and Narsingh DeoNarine Should do Well
Under English conditions, Barbados and West Indies batsman Kirk Edwards should do well in England and this is because of his batting style. Allrounder Narsing Deonarine should gain some dividends with his bowling under those conditions and his discipline batting style should also earn him runs. Marlon Samuels is back and he is an automatic choice on the Windies team. Deonarine is in the final 11 because of Samuels’ inclusion.
Ottis Gibson Needs To Work Harder
West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson needs to work much harder with the Windies batsmen, particularly with their technique. Most of the West Indies batsmen are going through this crisis of making a good start but are unable to remain in the wicket for any length of time to make any significant contribution. Gibson will have to coordinate his efforts and modify his strategies by implementing new measures to assist batsmen in doing much better. The West Indies bowlers performed reasonably well but their batsmen came up too short on many occasions. West Indies tied the Twenty20 and the One-Day series but Australia won the three Test series 2-0.
