Joel Garner, the West Indies’ team manager, and Stuart Law, their coach, in their own different ways and accents, had warned England not to underestimate their side before the Edgbaston Test. Well, it is fair to conclude Joe Root and his team did not fall into that trap. Instead they won by an innings and 209 runs inside three days (and nights). Now there is a greater danger England might underestimate West Indies before the Headingley Test, which starts on Friday.
Before the first match it was mentioned here that bowling was probably the West Indies’ stronger suit – certainly they have a bit more experience in that department. After they had yielded 518 runs, 243 of them to Alastair Cook, one felt chastised and obliged to think again. Then came the West Indies’ batsmen. In essence they were bowled out twice in a day on an Edgbaston surface that may have started to deteriorate – as a good pitch should – but which was still relatively benign.
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