West Indies And England Licking Wounds Ahead Of Test Series

North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda, March 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – eighth Mar, 2022 ) :West Indies and England provoke the rebuilding course of from the rubble of disastrous campaigns when their three-match Test sequence begins on Tuesday on the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

The guests’ 4-0 thrashing within the newest Ashes contest and a record-equalling 9 defeats within the final Calendar yr have pushed England into sweeping adjustments.

The Caribbean aspect are contending with yet one more Test droop wherein a 2-0 sequence reversal in Sri Lanka on the finish of 2021 left them with a document of 5 losses of their final six matches.

Desperate to distance themselves from the soul-destroying expertise Down Under, the English aspect taking the sphere in Antigua is about to indicate at the least six adjustments, together with debutant opener Alex Lees, from their ultimate capitulation in Hobart eight weeks earlier.

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, the celebrated swing and seam bowling tandem who’re the nation’s highest-ever wicket-takers in Tests, have been sensationally omitted from this touring get together.

Now their absence has been compounded by the lack of rising seam expertise Ollie Robinson who’s sidelined by a again damage sustained within the final week’s warm-up four-day match.

However historical past just isn’t on England’s aspect, however the seemingly perennial struggles of the West Indies at house within the recreation’s conventional format.

In the 54 years since Gary Sobers’ well-known double declaration opened the door to what proved a series-clinching victory for Colin Cowdrey’s guests in 1968, England have just one different sequence triumph to indicate for ten subsequent Caribbean campaigns — a 3-0 success in 2004 when Michael Vaughan was on the helm.

“I think we just need to play the cricket we know we can to give ourselves a fighting chance,” stated West Indies head coach Phil Simmons.

“We know there is a real challenge with the batting and we have been working hard over the past few days to rectify that problem and give the bowlers something to work with.”