Centurion Bell gives England a sure footing
For two hours at the start of a Test England can’t afford to lose, it was possible to believe that Colin Graves’ description of West Indies as ‘mediocre’ would have the same motivating effect as Tony Greig saying he would make them grovel.
Certainly the comments of the ECB’s outspoken new chairman were not looking very accurate when England’s top three had all succumbed to a West Indies pace attack seemingly i nspired by bowling coach Curtly Ambrose.
That England averted disaster was down to their best two batsmen and by the close Ian Bell, with his 22nd Test century, and Joe root had restored order in a first Test being played out against a backdrop of radical English change.
Tony Cozier, the most respected of Caribbean broadcasters, had said ahead of this series that Graves’ words might well inspire the home side, just as Greig did all those years ago in 1976 when West Indies were approaching their peak.
And it looked that way when the West Indies pace trio of Jerome Taylor, Kemar roach and Jason Holder had all bowled with a discipline and skill in the opening session worthy of their great mentor Ambrose.
The last time England played a Test at the Sir Vivian richards Stadium, in 2009, it was abandoned after 10 balls because of an unplayable outfield and for a while it looked as though West Indies were going to kick sand in England’s faces again.
What a terrible start this was for England and a captain in Alastair Cook who desperately needs both runs and victories if he is to avoid calls for him to be swept out along with managing director Paul Downton.
Cook, still steaming about his sacking as one-day captain ahead of the World Cup, has been working hard on his game with his old mentor and the man he sacked as England batting coach — Graham Gooch. Yet a slightly altered technique that worked so well against hapless St Kitts l ast week did not pass examination against a much better attack here, notably roach, who took advantage of Cook’s old failing against the full ball.
By that stage the remarkable comeback of Jonathan Trott, making his 50th Test appearance 18 months after his traumatic 49th, had been nipped in the bud in the first over of the day when he fended his third ball to slip.
When Gary Ballance became the third to fall to a bad shot with just 34 on the board, England were in trouble and Bob Willis was spluttering on Sky about the top three being ‘constipated’ and in need of a ‘good dose of syrup of figs’.
Yet by the close of the first day of a hectic spell of 17 Tests in the next nine months that will make or break the captaincy of Cook and the coaching of Peter Moores, England could breathe a lot more easily.
If they are going to emerge from the Caribbean unscathed, then Bell as the senior member of t heir batting order must make his quality count, as he did here after going 20 balls before getting off the mark.
Bell survived an early scare when he edged through the vacant third slip on 21 but was soon unfurling his silky array of shots and West Indies were looking much more like the side that Graves dismissed so disrespectfully.
After a tricky spell on 96 he nudged a couple of singles and then cut Marlon Samuels uppishly past slip for the boundary that brought up his hundred. It was a far cry from his last Test innings in the West Indies, when Bell was dropped following the collapse that saw England dismissed for 51 in Kingston six years ago.
Bell was joined in a stand of 177 by the man who looks sure to be the figurehead of a new era, should it ever emerge f r om Kevin Pietersen’s giant shadow.
root will succeed Cook as captain one day, but for now his runs are invaluable to t he incumbent and he carried on where he left off last summer.
The man who hit three big Test hundreds and three more halfcenturies last summer looked certain to add another century here, especially when Sulieman Benn dropped him on 61. But 17 short of three figures, root hung out his bat as he tried to run Taylor down to third man and got an inside edge into his leg stump.
root swiped his bat in frustration and thumped the ground as he walked off, as well he might, because there were undoubtedly big runs to be had on a flat Antigua pitch after Denesh ramdin had taken the surprising move of asking England to bat upon winning the toss.
root’s dismissal brought in Ben Stokes, who avoided a fourth consecutive Test duck and was soon playing cuts and pulls as he and Bell put on 130 before the latter was out for 143 and England finished the day 341 for five.