Iain Fletcher: West Indies’ up and down attitude will hand England Test on a plate

BEFORE the Test match started, West Indies were publicly stating that a draw or taking the game into the final day could be construed a success for them. It was rhetoric that smacked of pessimism, or realism, depending on one’s outlook, but nothing they have shown in three days has suggested they should have greater ambition. England will win this game, comfortably, and West Indies will try and glean some positives for their rebuilding process. What though?

They lack firepower, any depth at all in batting (and if Shivnarine Chanderpaul was removed it would be woeful) and an energy that could go some way to masking their more obvious omissions. This is not to say they are completely without merit, just that in arrives in periodic spurts interspersed with too-long and too-frequent periods of lassitude and lack of interest.

Modern cricket, indeed sport in general, is based upon ferocious intensity and ruthless adherence to discipline. Neither sits comfortably with the more relaxed Caribbean attitude of this generation. Go back 30 years to the teams of Clive Lloyd and Sir Viv Richards, however, and they had both in abundance and that is why they were the best.

If England were to think selfishly, then West Indies are the perfect warm-up for the more serious affairs later in the summer when South Africa arrive. It is galling to state, but there is some truth in this and the sadness is cricket needs a strong West Indies, or if not a strong one then at least a very competitive one.

By restricting England to a lead of 155 they did reasonably well, especially considering the overnight score. Andrew Strauss would have been determined to make his first century since November 2010 a big one but the persevering Kemar Roach nipped one off the slope and Denesh Ramdin took a good catch although it needed an excellent review from captain Darren Sammy to gain the decision. Jonny Bairstow was LBW and Matt Prior was Shannon Gabriel’s first Test wicket.

So far so good and Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, would have been pleased with the efforts of his young charges. They had fought back well, prevented England from dominating the day and therefore the match and shown there was enough within the group to suggest a better future. Then Graeme Swann swung lustily and suddenly the tempo changed against them again. The speed in which the body language changes from upbeat to downbeat is a concern. Test cricketers need to be made of sterner stuff.

It took Ian Bell some time to learn that in his career, but his 61 was a crucial innings, both for his team and himself. He needed runs after a dreadful winter, indeed, he probably needed them more than Strauss. It was not his most fluent innings, but it did not need to be. He remained to the end, last man out hitting for runs and with Swann playing freely and hitting six boundaries in a delightful cameo innings, England left the field in fine spirit with a decent lead and a new ball under cloudy skies waiting.

James Anderson swung the ball straight away and it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough came, although it was Tim Bresnan who nipped one away from Adrian Barath. The next wicket needed rather more thought as Strauss posted two fielders deep on the leg side, Broad delivered the obvious bouncer accurately and Kieran Powell obliged with a thoughtless hook shot that landed softly in the hands of Bell 20 yards from the boundary.

It was ignominious cricket by Powell but the research England had done on the batsman paid off, with a clinical assessment of his batting and a well-considered plan. What followed was farcical. Darren Bravo suffered a dreadful run-out on Thursday when Chanderpaul refused to budge from his end. This innings it was Bravo who resembled a statue as he belatedly turned back a sprinting Kirk Edwards. Bairstow has been excellent in the field all match and his pick-up and throw hit the stumps with Edwards yards short.

Test cricket is hard enough without such silly donations of wickets. The error was compounded when Bravo made a split-second decision to leave a teaser from Swann. The ball continued straight and with Swann bowling round the wicket that meant it continued in towards the off-stump which it lightly brushed. The most revealing aspect of the dismissal was Bravo’s position as he looked back at the broken stumps. Both middle and off-stumps were visible which means he had not covered the line at all and therefore made leaving the ball a lot riskier. He is a talented batsman but really needs greater experience around him. In fact they all do.

There are talented West Indies cricketers, some playing here, some in the money-go-round that is the IPL, and in the bizarre case of Jerome Taylor, a ridiculous ruling about his fitness concerns by the cricket board. Get them all playing and West Indies would be a reasonable outfit. Not like the seventies version or the eighties either, but good enough to shock a few and win some matches.

Sadly the only part of their cricket that currently bears comparison to their halcyon days is their derisory over rate. Twelve overs an hour is an insult to the paying public. Money seems to be the major topic of talk among players these days. Maybe they should start with that fact.