Root determined not to let West Indies off the hook
England urged to wipe out recent complacency Fit-again Woakes returns in place of Roland-jones
Some of the great moments in nonashes Tests have occurred in matches between England and West Indies at Headingley – whether it is the ruggedness of the ground that adds to the drama, or the passion of its spectators who applaud individual deliveries like nowhere else in England.
Graham Gooch produced indisputably the best Test innings by an England captain when he subdued the attack of the world champions in 1991, and very arguably the best by an England batsman ever. When a cricket website, based in India, voted on the best Test innings of all time, it rather predictably went for the best innings by an Indian, VVS Laxman’s 281 against Australia; but Gooch carried his bat for 154 in conditions ideal for seam bowling.
England’s second Investec Test against this West Indies team is unlikely to see such a feat replicated: the West Indian bowling is not challenging enough, in the absence of Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson and Courtney Walsh, for an England batsman to emulate Gooch, while none of the touring batsmen seems quite equipped for epic defiance, having made one 50 between them in the first Test, which England won by an innings and 209 runs. So the great moment at Headingley that is most likely to be reprised is when Andrew Caddick took four West Indian wickets in one over in 2000, when the tourists – for all the brilliance of Brian Lara – were tumbled out for 61. Either James Anderson, Stuart Broad or Chris Woakes, who has been reinstated in the place of Toby Rolandjones, could emulate Caddick, although the light-brown pitch – like Edgbaston’s – looks designed to help West Indies bat as long as they can, or at least take the game into a fourth day.
“I think it’s important that Woakesy gets some game-time in,” Joe Root said of the Warwickshire all-rounder’s return – and Woakes must return, having not played a Test this summer, after his intercostal injury in the opening game of the Champions Trophy. England are building a nice reserve of pace bowlers but, if Anderson or Broad is injured, neither Roland-jones, Mark Wood nor Jake Ball can maximise the new ball as well as Woakes.
It is important that Roland-jones also gets some game-time. He has played only three Tests, taking 14 wickets at only 19 runs each, while Woakes at least has had 17 Tests. “As anyone would, he was very disappointed,” said Root, on the eve of his first Test as England captain on his home ground, about having to tap Roland-jones on the shoulder.
And there is of course a lot to be said for England playing their strongest side, as they now will. The defining moment of Root’s captaincy to date was in the aftermath of the defeat by South Africa in the second Test at Trent Bridge, which followed England’s overwhelming win at Lord’s. Root described himself yesterday, with a hint of a choirboy smile, as “not a guy to go out there with a hairdryer and give someone a massive spray”, but it is known he made strong statements in the dressing room about backing up one victory with another, rather than back-sliding as the team he inherited were wont to do after a win.
So England do not want to let West Indies off the hook, as they let Pakistan off the hook last summer, or Bangladesh last autumn, after taking the lead. And a particularly vulnerable moment has long been when England have batted second in the second Test of a series after winning the first.
Root is establishing his own set of principles to build a side who win consistently: “The key is the guys keep pushing each other for their spots.” Which is all highly commendable. One cannot help but feel though that Roland-jones has been dropped largely on the grounds that he is the most decent chap, the least prone to a tantrum, among England’s pace bowlers.
Anderson and Broad could have taken it in turns to miss this Test and the third at Lord’s, so that both Woakes and Roland-jones could have been given game-time in England’s last two Tests before Australia; while Ball and Wood also need whatever Test experience they can get. Above all, though, simply on medical grounds to spare his left knee, Ben Stokes is the pace bowler who should have been rested for Woakes. But the risk of a confrontation is slightly bigger if, after a tap on the shoulder, the opening words are “Hello, Ben” rather than “Hello, Toby’’.
The two main diagnoses by the West Indian captain Jason Holder after the Edgbaston defeat, were that “as a bowling unit, we weren’t as patient as we would like to be,” which suggested the return of Shannon Gabriel and Devendra Bishoo; and that his batsmen had to let the ball come to them rather than reaching for it.
Another fundamental problem is that Holder himself, a good man and no doubt a good leader in the right circumstances, and a decent No8, is not up to being West Indies’ third seamer, or even their fourth.
He has taken only 42 wickets in his 24 Tests, not at a hideous average because he bowls back of a length fairly economically, but still well under two wickets per Test. West Indian fast bowlers have been, above all else, strike bowlers.