England will resume cricket affairs on the field this evening against the West Indies in the Caribbean after the turmoil revolving Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores. But is England the only one in trouble?
The West Indies may have missed a trick in not naming Lendl Simmons in the squad for the first Test beginning today. But they may also be counting on England to go through a period of unrest as Andrew Strauss takes to the field officially as captain of the England cricket team. While Strauss is adamant to deny any matter of tensions within the dressing room, it will be interesting to watch how Pietersen the batsman reacts after being furious over losing the captaincy.
England may face one queer question over whether to use Monty Panesar ahead of Graeme Swann but their bowling is likely to see the same in Stuart Broad who will look to enlarge his responsibility in the Test arena as he has in the one day internationals. It will be a toss up between Ryan Sidebottom who missed out on the Indian tour with injury and James Anderson as Steve Harmison is looking like a certainty for the Test matches as well. Andrew Strauss is though not in a mood to reveal the final eleven until the toss when Andrew Flintoff’s fitness can be assessed.
Jerome Taylor will lead the attack and after his century against New Zealand, has shown the tail can wag too. But Chris Gayle will expect more of his experienced duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul while Xavier Marshall, Denesh Ramdin and newcomer Brendon Nash, whose colour of the skin has been a subject of hot discussion, fit into the middle order.
England can ideally win this game in Sabina Park, Jamaica as well as the series. But with the chaos that preceded this tour, it will be a challenge to fit in well as a team and leave the conundrums behind. West Indies will definitely not start favourites even at home and even as England attempt to convert this into a preparation tour for the upcoming Ashes, West Indies would do well to redeem their reputation at home.
The referral system comes back into the picture and while West Indies have already tried it against New Zealand, England will have their first crack at it. But now the referrals have been reduced to two per innings, making it even more tight to take calls. Sachin Tendulkar would perhaps have enjoyed it in the series against Sri Lanka for sure.
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