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West Indies will take on England in the first Test of the three-match home series, starting Tuesday (March 8). The series opener to be played in Antigua will be part of the two teams’ push to bag the coveted Richards-Botham Trophy after being renamed from the Wisden Trophy back in 2020.
The Test series also features in respective countries’ campaigns for the new cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), where they desperately need a few wins under their belt.
While West Indies are positioned eighth in the nine-team league table with one win and three losses, England are languishing at the bottom with six defeats and just a solitary win at this stage.
In percentage terms, West Indies have 25% of the points they have played for, England only 9.25. Each Test in the new WTC cycle counts for 12 points but standings are decided on the basis of the percentage of points won from those a team contested for.
In their respective previous series, England were hammered 4-0 in the Ashes Down Under by their arch-rivals Australia, whereas the West Indies were battered and bruised 2-0 in Sri Lanka last November. It would require something really special for the two teams to come close to making the WTC final next year.
Key Players
Joe Root – As always, much of England’s fate will depend on their skipper and their best batter, Root, whose bat has done the talking since the start of last year. Root didn’t quite make enough of his starts count in Australia but in the last 14 months, he has piled on 1,777 runs from 17 Tests at an average of 55.53 with 6 hundreds and 4 fifties. Root will be key to England’s fortunes as they eye a series win in the West Indies after a long, long time.
Ben Stokes – Stokes, England’s premier allrounder, will be looking to make amends for his disappointing Test return through the Ashes. The left-hand batter and right-arm seamer is arguably the most crucial cog in England’s wheels and therefore, they need him back at his absolute best. Despite a poor Ashes, Stokes boasts of a mighty impressive record for England. He has played 76 Tests for England with 4,867 runs at an average of 36.05 and 167 wickets at 32.34 per piece.
Jonny Bairstow – With England in desperate search for batting heroes, it becomes extremely important for them that Bairstow – one of their only positives out of the Ashes drubbings – continues his impressive run in the Caribbean. The wicketkeeper-batter stamped his authority as his team’s first-choice gloveman Down Under, scoring 194 runs from his 2 Tests at an average of 48.50. Bairstow made an impressive hundred in Sydney and will be determined to score big against the West Indies.
Kraigg Brathwaite – In an equally fragile batting unit, West Indies skipper Brathwaite will have to stand up to the task at the top of the order for his team. Brathwaite’s solidity against the new ball and consistency of the same, is expected to decide West Indies’ fortunes in challenging conditions for the series. The right-hand batter has struck 4,402 runs in his 74 Tests with 9 hundreds and 23 half-centuries.
Kemar Roach – Roach has been fantastic for West Indies in Test cricket over the last few overs. With his ability to make the ball swing both ways and do it from very close to the off-stump, Roach has been a lethal prospect for visiting batters in the Caribbean, especially with the semi-new Dukes they use there. Since the start of 2018, Roach has taken 84 Test wickets from 24 matches at an average of 23.36. Like with Brathwaite, much of West Indies’ fate for the series will depend on Roach as well.
Prediction
Difficult one to predict, considering both teams have been struggling collectively since the start of the last cycle of the WTC and are positioned in the bottom two of the current standings. While England were hammered in Australia, West Indies suffered the same fate in Sri Lanka.
West Indies, however, may feel they have a slight edge here because of their home conditions, facing their favourite opposition. Since the turn of the century, England have won 5 but also lost 4 of their 15 Tests in the Caribbean, making them one of the worst tourists to the region. On their last trip back in 2019, the three lions went down 2-0 in the first two Tests before pulling off a consolation victory.
West Indies will take a lot of heart from their performances against England at home, even as they themselves strive to overcome some of their longstanding issues with the bat and ball after the recent defeats in the WTC.
