IN THREE-FALL
England’s top order crushed by same old mistakes
THEY tried to change their ways. They tried to display the discipline and application of proper Test cricketers. Yet England’s top order could not prevent a familiar miserable story unfolding in their first ever St Lucian Test yesterday.
Two old-fashioned West Indian thrashings in a series England were expected to dominate led to a very old-fashioned reaction when Joe Root and Trevor Bayliss made 80slike illogical changes ahead of this third Test and then told a top three that keep on failing to defend for dear life.
And even though they desperately tried to build a platform on what turned out to be a near perfect batting pitch by going along at fewer than two an over in the first session they couldn’t keep out this rampant West Indian attack.
Nothing was more depressing for England than the sight of the man they brought back here against all cricketing evidence make the same mistakes that already looked as though they had ended his international career.
It was painful to watch Keaton Jennings, seemingly consigned to history when he was dropped for Antigua, trying to cope with the pace of this throwback of a West Indian attack before he was put out of his misery after 43 agonising deliveries.
Jennings, brought back as the only spare batsman in a bowlerloaded squad once England had decided to give the gloves back to Jonny Bairstow, could have been dismissed twice in one over from the outstanding Kemar Roach.
First he should have been given out on three lbw by umpire Kumar Dharmasena and then, even more frustratingly for West Indies, he edged straight through the hands of Roston Chase at third slip.
Yet all that did was delay what really was the inevitable when Jennings could not stop himself getting out in the same manner that has plagued his Test career, driving loosely outside off- stump to the first ball after the drinks break and providing slip catching practice.
It was not even real fast bowling that did for him either but the inexperienced figure of Keemo Mandela Angus Paul, an all- round replacement for suspended West Indies captain Jason Holder, who struck with his first ball of lively but far from express pace.
Paul’s middle names are intriguing. Mandela certainly needs no explanation but the fact he is called Angus and was born in Guyana at almost exactly the time England’s Angus Fraser was destroying West Indies in Trinidad on the 1998 tour suggests his parents are fans of nagging medium pace.
Certainly Paul did not need Fraser’s capacity for accuracy to lure Jennings into another act of selfdestruction that exposed England’s folly in bringing him back and making Ben Foakes the unfortunate fall-guy of their attempt to regain the right balance to their side.
Jennings appearance here was almost cruel on a popular figure who has shown he can score runs in spinning conditions but who really will not be the answer against Australia this summer. And the Ashes are getting closer and closer.
At least Joe Denly was moved to the more familiar position of three even though Bairstow had shown he was capable of making the adjustment of batting there by making a hundred in Colombo and a very good half century in Antigua.
But it has to be questionable that Denly, wherever he bats, is going to carve out a Test career at 32 and his selection for this tour after looking out of his depth in the warm-up matches in Sri Lanka is looking more and more like a mistake.
Admittedly, Denly would never have faced bowling of the calibre he has here at Kent, particularly as he has spent much of the time in the championship second division and he too struggled before falling to what seemed an inevitable cheap demise.
On the stroke of lunch Denly survived a loud appeal for a catch behind down the legside off the extra speed of Shannon Gabriel, who consistently surpassed 90 miles per hour, as umpire Rod Tucker rightly adjudicated that his glove was off the bat handle when it touched the ball.
Again, it was only a temporary reprieve as Denly was palpably lbw to Gabriel, who took 13 wickets here against Sri Lanka last year, and wasted a review when appearing to be encouraged to challenge Tucker’s decision by captain Root.
That came just seven balls after Rory Burns became the second victim for the 20-year-old Paul when he too was trapped right in front. The only difference this time was that Dharmasena inexplicably failed to give the decision and was rescued by technology.
That left Root and Jos Buttler attempting to repair all too familiar damage after England had lost their third toss of the series having won all three in Sri Lanka before Christmas.
Not surprisingly, both tried to curb their natural attacking instincts and even looked a little nervous against West Indies four fast bowlers.
Root survived a good lbw shout second ball from Paul and then aimed and luckily missed a big expansive drive against the young all-rounder.
Just as life appeared to be getting easier Root gave it away slashing at a wide ball from Alzarri Joseph to leave England in big trouble again as they attempt to avoid a repeat of those 80s whitewashes. And, with the biggest series of them all around the corner, that is a highly worrying state of affairs.
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