Windies attack a mockery of the past
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
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Graham Gooch used to say that he'd bat for an hour against a West Indian pace attack, think he'd done jolly well, and then look up at the scoreboard to see that he was five not out, writes Martin Johnson in The Age.
Against the current crop of West Indian fast bowlers, however, England's batsmen are able to wander down for a mid-pitch conference, and discuss, with reasonable confidence, their evening dinner plans. It was never something Gooch and Gatting would have talked about, on the basis that there was more than a decent chance that their dining arrangements would have been confined to sipping soup through a straw from adjoining hospital beds.
It's not just the West Indian fast bowlers who are struggling, though. Mike Atherton writes in The Sunday Telegraph that Steve Harmison is still off the pace.
There was never any faulting the effort, but as the shadows lengthened over Lord's, and Harmison's second new ball spell became increasingly ragged (4-0-29-0 with two big wides), it was clear that the problems from the winter had not gone away. It was painful to watch because Harmison was clearly trying his guts out.
In the same paper, Atherton also says that the injured Michael Vaughan seems intrusive and will have a lot to prove if he is fit to play the second Test against West Indies at Headingley.
"Matt Prior's hundred on debut had implications beyond Test cricket," says Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph. "It was such a wonderful example of controlled aggression that he has to be given an extended run as England's opening batsman and wicketkeeper in the one-day team, spelling the end for Michael Vaughan and Paul Nixon."
"The fightback by the batsmen was a commendable effort given the constraints that faced the West Indies, the first even before the tour began, says Tony Cozier in The Trindad Express. "The reasons for accepting an itinerary that featured a solitary match before the first Test, reduced from three days to less than one by the weather, and one other between the second and third Tests are unknown. But they created a blatant disadvantage."
Tony Becca, in the Jamaica Gleaner, says that West Indies are sorely missing a spinner in England and feels that the dearth of spin options in the West Indies is because they are not encouraged.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo