West Indies embarrass England with ten-wicket triumph to claim series win

On, yet another dark day in modern English Test cricket, West Indies defeated England by ten wickets to claim a 1-0 series win and inflict further scrutiny on Joe Root’s position as captain.

Whilst the outcome of the match, the series and England’s place at the bottom of the World Test Championship table was all but settled at the close of play on Saturday, today is the day when questions will be asked, changes will begin to be planned and England find themselves at their lowest point since the turn of the millennium.

The best efforts of Chris Woakes (19), who was caught exceptionally well by Jason Holder at leg-slip, and Jack Leach (4) could not provide the unlikeliest of miracles before West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite, rather fittingly, hit the winning runs.

And so, the condemnation begins. This was the start of something fresh. This was a new dawn. This was the next generation realising their potential. This was the end of shameful batting collapses. This was life without Stuart Broad and James Anderson. This was the “red-ball reset.”

Off the back of a 4-0 Ashes defeat, there was much discussion regarding the futures of Joe Root, Chris Silverwood, Ashley Giles and the direction that English Test cricket was heading in.

Silverwood and Giles paid the ultimate price as opposed to Root who, seemingly, was deemed as the best man to lead his country through a new phase.

With the backing of Interim Managing Director, Andrew Strauss, the Yorkshireman oversaw several key decisions. The likes of Rory Burns, Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler were all dropped but none more notable than leaving two of England’s greatest-ever bowlers out of the tour to the Caribbean in the form of Anderson and Broad.

That decision alone effectively meant that Root could not afford to lose the series, especially in the manner that his side have done.

Most worryingly, the same elements from England’s failures down under were ever-so visible. Dreadful batting, missed opportunities, questionable tactics and wayward bowling culminated in another thrashing. But this time not at the hands of an impressive Australian outfit, who have since gone on to claim a series win in Pakistan, but a somewhat mediocre West Indies side.

The lack of change and progress is unacceptable and as painful as it may be to say, removing Root from his role is the only way clear way forward, at the time of writing.

His management of pace bowlers, Mark Wood on this occasion, drew criticism after the Durham man picked up another injury, as did his declaration in Barbados which, arguably, prevented the tourists from taking a 1-0 lead.

Handing Chris Woakes and Craig Overton the new ball over Saqib Mahmood in Grenada bemused both supporters and media alike. Former England batsman Mark Butcher claimed that he had “never seen a more friendly opening spell” than the one from the pair.

Eventually moving onto what has been the heart of England’s problems for the last 18 months, batting. Despite glimpses of improvement, inexcusable dismissals overshadowed positivity, which combined with the fact only Root and Bairstow averaged over 40 despite the inexplicably flat pitches across the first two Tests, provides little encouragement.

Where from here, then? The new managing director and head coach will, ultimately, decide whether Root continues as skipper. From that point, it is likely that those at the top of the game will reinforce that their vision is a long-term one. But England need to win test matches. A year’s worth of defeats cannot continue at the expense of a brighter future. Some sort of balance desperately needs to be implemented.

Root himself is keen to continue and, in the aftermath of defeat, claimed that his side are improving in spite of failure.

“I thought the attitude throughout the whole tour has been brilliant, in that respect we’ve made many improvements. That has to continue.”

“I’ve made it quite clear at the start of this game and tour that I want to take this team forward. I don’t think it’s ever in your hands and I feel like the group are behind me. We’re doing quite a lot of good things, we just need to turn that into results now.”

The last word, as it should often be, is on the victors. Archetypal Caribbean flair was combined with a sense of determination and resoluteness that has sometimes been missing from West Indies teams in recent years.

Brathwaite has been fully deserving of his player of the series award but opted to emphasise that each member of his side played their part.

“We decided this was one of our best series at home and we have to fight hard. We put in a lot of work. Every game someone raised their hand and did the job. The effort was remarkable.”

Rightly so too, he was backed up well by the likes of Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood and Joshua Da Silva with the bat.

Jayden Seales impressed on a consistent basis over the three matches, made even more remarkable when taken into account he has played less than 40 senior games. Alzarri Joseph appears capable of delivering the “X factor” that the best West Indian bowlers have traditionally shown and Kemar Roach, alongside Jason Holder exhibited their invaluable experience.

England return to international cricket with a three-game Test series against WTC finalists New Zealand in June.

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