The West Indies opener came into the series in poor form but he has helped his side in the first two Tests with valuable runs
Whatever else they got wrong in this series, one thing England definitely did get right was that they didn’t let the ECB chairman Colin Graves anywhere near a microphone in the run-up to it. They made that mistake in 2015, when Graves memorably described West Indies as “mediocre” before a series. A few weeks later, they bowled England out for 123 in Bridgetown, and won the third Test by five wickets. “Not bad for a mediocre team,” Jason Holder said afterwards. There’s an old lesson here, one England have been taught more than once over the years, never give West Indies another reason to want to beat you.
West Indies have won five of the 10 Tests the two teams have played since Graves’s quote, so by now England have learned better than to talk them down. But that does not mean there aren’t one of two players in this West Indies side with a point to prove. Only this time it’s their own side to which they’re doing it. Jermaine Blackwood, so keen to shrug off his reputation as a player who doesn’t have the right temperament to succeed in Test cricket, did it with that match‑winning hand in the first Test. Shai Hope, who hasn’t scored a Test century since he won the two he made in that famous victory at Headingley in 2017, is another, and he hasn’t managed it yet.
Related: England lead Windies by 219 at stumps: second Test, day four – live!
Related: Ben Stokes is still evolving and can lord it over even Ian Botham | Vic Marks
Continue reading...