Sarwan and Strauss in the runs six years ago...
Monday 13 April 2015 08:11, UK
If England’s impending Test series in West Indies is half as action-packed as the last then we are in for a real treat.
The team, then captained by Andrew Strauss, lost the five-match contest 1-0 but that only tells half the story, with an abandonment, some nail-biting finishes and runs galore the most vivid memories.
Read on to see how sand, Sarwan and Strauss came to the fore six years ago and then watch England’s 2015 series with the West Indies, live on Sky Sports, from Monday, April 13…
England headed to the West Indies under new management, with Andy Flower – initially on an interim basis – and Strauss deployed in the top jobs following the sacking of coach Peter Moores and resignation of captain Kevin Pietersen in early January. Things could hardly have got off to a worse start! England battled their way to 318 first up in Jamaica, a knock that hinged on a workmanlike 97 from Pietersen and a half-century from Matt Prior, but after Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan pocketed hundreds apiece to help West Indies reply with 392, all hell broke loose.
Stuart Broad thought he had done okay with 5-85 in the hosts’ innings but those figures were blown away by Jerome Taylor, whose staggering 5-11 from nine overs – the local lad accounting for five of England’s top seven – helped Gayle’s men skittle England out for 51, their third-lowest total in Tests. It could have been even more embarrassing for the tourists had Andrew Flintoff (24) not been around, with the Lancastrian the only player to make double figures. To paint an even grimmer picture, extras was the joint-third top scorer with six, as Sulieman Benn’s four-for backed up main man Taylor.
Strauss and co probably wanted a stint on the beach in the wake of their Jamaican jitters – and they sort of got one! The overly-sandy conditions at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium meant Windies seamers Taylor and Fidel Edwards were unable to get a steady footing and despite much prodding, poking and pitchforkery from the ground staff, match referee Alan Hurst called off the contest on safety grounds after just 10 balls.
The clash, therefore, became the shortest Test in history, taking that unwanted accolade from another England-West Indies encounter, the first Test at Sabina Park in 1998 that lasted only 61 balls due to fears for batsmen’s welfare on a decidedly uneven track. Sky Sports expert Mark Butcher certainly suffered on that occasion, notching a first-ball duck!
Anyway, the abandonment in Antigua was a big blow for the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, which was subsequently banned from hosting international fixtures for the next 12 months. The venue is back in the big time now, though, and will host the first of this spring’s three Tests, with the other two in Grenada and Barbados respectively.
Following the farcical scenes in North Sound, a hastily-arranged extra Test began at the nearby Antigua Recreation Ground two days later, with England having first dig. Strauss and Paul Collingwood profited most, plundering 169 and 113 runs respectively, but nearly all of England’s batsmen chipped in as the team amassed 566-9 declared.
Some superb spin from Graeme Swann (5-57) helped England dismiss the Windies for 285 and cement control of the game, despite Sarwan impressing once more – and not for the last time– with 94. However, victory would ultimately elude Strauss’ squad, partly because of a conservative second-innings declaration and some dawdling on the fourth afternoon, but mainly due a rearguard action of the highest order from the West Indies.
England could sense blood when they reduced the home team to 96-3 but gritty performances from Sarwan (106 from 196) – yes, him again – and the obdurate Shivnarine Chanderpaul (55 from 165) frustrated the visitors. Wickets began to tumble, though, when Broad castled Sarwan, and the Windies soon slipped from 244-3 to 287-6. Cue tailenders Taylor, Benn, Darren Powell and Edwards, who repelled England’s attack valiantly as Strauss and co ended up one wicket short following a terrific Test.
It was a true batsman’s paradise in Barbados with 1,628 runs scored and just 17 wickets falling. Strauss secured the second of three consecutive Test tons in England’s opening knock, as the tourists eased to 600-6 declared, Ravi Bopara’s first Test century, as well as 90-odds for Collingwood and Cook and a 76 for wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose the other innings of note. West Indies did even better, though, compiling 749-9 with run-machine Sarwan – who ended the five-match series with 626 runs and a stonking average of 104.33 – smashing a career-best 291 and Denesh Ramdin assisting his pal with 166, his best total in the five-day arena.
It was then Cook’s turn to reach three figures, the opener registering the eighth of what has become 25 Test match tons with an unbeaten 139. His chief support? The now-jettisoned Pietersen, who played with typical swagger on a peach of a pitch to score 72 not out, a knock that included seven fours and a mammoth six off tweaker Ryan Hinds. England finished a pretty drab affair on 279-2, meaning their chances of winning the series had subsided and that they had to win in Trinidad to save it.
It was a case of deja vu from the third Test for England as once again they failed to dislodge the entire Windies tail. Strauss’s squad had their rivals eight down in the final innings but were foiled by the brave batsmanship of, among others, Ramdin. The Windies’ wicketkeeper finished unbeaten on 17 from 87 deliveries, seeing out day five with Edwards, who blocked the last five deliveries of the series to secure his team the Wisden Trophy.
Credit, too, must go to Gayle, with the usually swashbuckling strokemaker hampered by a hamstring injury he picked up while notching a hundred in the first innings and virtually unable to move after entering the fray at No 8. All but one of the 41 deliveries the left-hander faced prior to being trapped lbw by Monty Panesar were dots and he was in constant pain throughout, yet his cameo was vital as the Windies held on.
The timing of England’s declaration came under fire again – they left themselves just 66 overs to bowl out their opponents – but Gayle’s boys certainly earned their series win. Plus, it didn’t take England too long to shrug off their disappointment as they were Ashes victors five months later.
Watch England's Test series with West Indies, from 2pm on Monday, April 13 on Sky Sports 2 (channel 403).
