England's overwhelming dominance

A major shift in head-to-head record
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.

West Indies dominated England to such an extent in the 1970s and 1980s that their overall record is still positive despite the barren run in the last decade. West Indies lorded over England both home and away in the 1980s and went through the decade without a single loss. In the 1990s too, West Indies were comfortably the better team, though England did get back to winning ways. However, since the Dominic Cork-inspired win at Lord's in 2000, England turned the tables completely. They went on to win 3-0 and 4-0 in the back-to-back series in 2004, with the only draw coming in Antigua where Brian Lara scored an unbeaten 400. Since 2000, England have won 15 Tests in all against West Indies, with 12 of those coming in home Tests. West Indies, who have hardly mounted a serious challenge away in the last decade, will be hard-pressed to compete against an England team that last lost a home series back in 2008.

With West Indies lacking both the bowling firepower and consistency in batting, England have hardly been tested in recent contests. In home Tests against West Indies since 2004, England have averaged 50.16 with the bat and 27.47 with the ball. The difference between the batting and bowling averages is 22.69. In the same period, the difference between the wickets taken per match for the two teams is 6. West Indies have been far more competitive at home, with the difference in averages there falling to 6.73. The wickets difference is also much lower in the West Indies (1.56). Overall, however, England have averaged nearly 47 with the bat and 30.64 with the ball (average difference 16.35). They have also picked up more than 16 wickets per match on an average while West Indies have managed a corresponding number of just over 12.

Stark contrast in recent form
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.

West Indies, who have played 40 Tests in the same period, have managed just four wins and lost 19 Tests. Their win-loss ratio of 0.21 is the worst among the top Test-playing teams (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). Not only do they have a poor average difference (-9.65), they also have a much lower number of centuries (32) as compared to England, who have scored 66 hundreds.

Chanderpaul in a different league
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.

With the exception of Chanderpaul, the rest of the West Indies batting is fairly light on experience. Chanderpaul, who became the tenth batsman to pass 10,000 runs in the recent series against Australia, has been simply superb in the last two series in England. Since 2004, he has scored nearly 1000 runs in nine Tests against England at an average of 73.61. Needless to say, he has excellent numbers against pace bowlers and spinners. Darren Bravo and Kirk Edwards have made promising starts to their Test careers and West Indies will rely heavily on their contribution in the upcoming series.

England's superior bowling firepower
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.

Fidel Edwards has been West Indies' most successful bowler since the retirement of Curtly Ambrose. He has six five-wicket hauls since 2008 and has done much better against right-handers. Kemar Roach, who recently became the first West Indian fast bowler since Ambrose (in 1993) to pick up ten wickets in a match against Australia, has similarly been superb against right-handers (average 20.46) but disappointing against left-handers. The underrated Darren Sammy, who picked up a seven-wicket haul on Test debut at Old Trafford, has been quite consistent in the same period with 55 wickets at 33.52.

A look at the venues
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.

The second Test will be played in Trent Bridge, a venue where every Test in the last seven years has produced a result. Both pace bowlers and spinners average significantly lower than their corresponding numbers at Lord's. West Indies' last Test win in England was at Edgbaston, the venue for the third Test. The result percentage here is pretty high, with five decisive games out of six. The runs-per-wicket value in the first innings is low (22.30) but increases across the other three innings. Spinners have picked up a relatively higher proportion of wickets in Edgbaston Tests as compared to the other two venues and also have a slightly better average than the fast bowlers.