England's overwhelming dominance
West Indies ordinary record in recent years makes England firm favourites ahead of the first Test at Lord's

Shivnarine Chanderpaul will hope he has more support from the other batsmen this time around in England • Getty Images
Perhaps no other stat provides a better perspective of West Indies' decline than their record against England. In the last few years, England have been the dominant team in Test cricket, except for the blip against Pakistan. West Indies, on the other hand, have failed to win a single away series against major opponents (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) for nearly 17 years, and last won a Test in England in 2000. Other than the victory in Jamaica in 2009, West Indies have well and truly been outplayed by England in recent years. However, the story before 2000 was completely different. Between 1973 and 1990, West Indies lost just one Test against England while winning 23. They won two consecutive series by a 5-0 margin in 1984 and 1985-86 and 4-0 again in 1988. England, who managed to win their first Test after 16 years with a nine-wicket win in Jamaica in 1990, went on to win their first series against West Indies in 31 years when they beat them 3-1 in 2000. West Indies failed to regroup after this series defeat and have never since managed to compete with major Test teams in overseas series.
Played | Wins | Losses | Draws | W/L ratio | |
Overall | 145 | 43 | 53 | 49 | 0.81 |
1970-1989 | 37 | 1 | 23 | 13 | 0.04 |
1990-1999 | 26 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 0.58 |
2000 onwards | 24 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 7.50 |
Home since 2000 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 12.00 |
Since 2007 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5.00 |
Matches | Batting (runs per wicket) | Bowling (Runs per wicket) | Avg difference | Wickets per match (bowling) | Wickets per match (batting) | Wickets difference | |
Home | 10 | 50.16 | 27.47 | 22.69 | 18.60 | 12.60 | 6.00 |
Away | 9 | 43.25 | 35.52 | 6.73 | 13.44 | 11.88 | 1.56 |
Overall | 19 | 46.99 | 30.64 | 16.35 | 16.15 | 12.26 | 3.89 |
Since 2008, England have been the in-form Test team, winning Ashes series at home (2009) and away (2010-2011), and drawing in South Africa (2009-2010). Although they have failed to win in the subcontinent, they have been quite unstoppable at home. Following comfortable wins over Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they trounced India 4-0 in 2011 to go top of the team rankings. Their win-loss ratio of 2.00 since 2008 is marginally behind South Africa's 2.10. England average 39.26 with the bat and just over 30 with the ball in Tests played since 2008, thus maintaining a difference of 8.34.
Team | Matches | Wins/Losses | W/L ratio | Bat avg/bowl avg | Avg diff | 100/50 |
England | 53 | 26/13 | 2.00 | 39.26/30.92 | 8.34 | 66/126 |
West Indies | 40 | 4/19 | 0.21 | 29.83/39.48 | -9.65 | 32/89 |
Until the recent series against Pakistan in the UAE, when they came unstuck against top-quality spin, nearly all England batsmen were on song. In the Ashes and the subsequent series against Sri Lanka and India, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott were outstanding. Alastair Cook, who top-scored in the Ashes with 766 runs, set up England's crushing win in Edgbaston against India with a massive 294. Although Andrew Strauss has experienced a poor run, his association with Cook is England's most prolific opening stand.
Batsman | Matches | Runs | Average | 100/50 | Pace (avg/balls per dismissal) | Spin (avg/balls per dismissal) |
Alastair Cook | 53 | 4248 | 50.57 | 12/20 | 45.95/92.06 | 63.50/133.54 |
Kevin Pietersen | 50 | 3630 | 48.40 | 10/15 | 52.40/89.20 | 47.93/73.84 |
Andrew Strauss | 51 | 3381 | 41.23 | 9/16 | 40.57/86.50 | 42.50/83.92 |
Ian Bell | 41 | 2865 | 50.26 | 10/12 | 43.97/82.05 | 63.77/122.05 |
Jonathan Trott | 28 | 2319 | 52.70 | 7/9 | 47.26/91.83 | 75.08/176.66 |
Shivnarine Chanderpaul | 35 | 2761 | 61.35 | 8/16 | 61.29/153.08 | 59.95/138.57 |
Darren Bravo | 16 | 1339 | 49.59 | 3/7 | 38.35/84.42 | 61.69/128.76 |
Kirk Edwards | 7 | 657 | 50.53 | 2/4 | 52.40/110.60 | 49.37/104.87 |
Adrian Barath | 12 | 543 | 23.60 | 1/4 | 22.31/46.56 | 31.00/60.83 |
England have been able to compete in all conditions primarily because of an all-round bowling attack. In James Anderson and Stuart Broad, they have two of the finest fast bowlers who are especially dangerous in home conditions. While Anderson has been equally successful against both right-handers and left-handers, Stuart Broad has a much higher average against left-handers. Graeme Swann, who is second behind Derek Underwood on the list of England spinners with the most five-fors, has been exceptional against left-handers (average 19.85), which suggests he could be a key bowler against Chanderpaul.
Bowler | Matches | Wickets | Average | 5WI/10WM | Right-hand batsmen (wickets/avg) | Left-hand batsmen (wickets/avg) |
James Anderson | 48 | 196 | 27.30 | 9/1 | 125/27.64 | 71/25.90 |
Graeme Swann | 41 | 182 | 27.97 | 13/2 | 92/35.85 | 90/19.85 |
Stuart Broad | 44 | 146 | 30.82 | 4/0 | 102/26.36 | 44/39.31 |
Fidel Edwards | 25 | 82 | 33.68 | 6/0 | 51/28.80 | 31/35.48 |
Kemar Roach | 17 | 62 | 28.67 | 4/1 | 43/20.46 | 19/42.68 |
Darren Sammy | 22 | 55 | 33.52 | 3/0 | 34/34.41 | 21/31.28 |
Lord's was the venue where England kick-started their dominant run against West Indies with a two-wicket win in 2000. They have been very successful at the venue, losing only one Test in the last seven years. Their success is recent years has been even more pronounced, with five wins and one draw in the last six Tests at the venue.
Venue | Matches | Result % | 1st innings | 2nd innings | 3rd innings | 4th innings | Pace (wickets/avg) | Spin (wickets/avg) |
Lord's | 15 | 53.33 | 44.58 | 29.09 | 37.70 | 35.22 | 339/35.38 | 110/37.98 |
Trent Bridge | 6 | 100 | 30.75 | 25.35 | 35.62 | 15.75 | 167/26.20 | 45/32.40 |
Edgbaston | 6 | 83.33 | 22.30 | 39.54 | 30.74 | 38.05 | 135/31.32 | 52/28.69 |
Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo