ENG vs WI | Old Trafford Day 2 Talking Points - Windies’ need for Rahkeem and Holder’s toss blunder

ByAnirudh Suresh, SportsCafe Editor

07/17/2020

For four hours it looked like Sibley and Stokes were going to keep blocking until the Windies bowlers physically broke down, but the former’s dismissal and the latter’s gearshift abruptly put an end to that possibility. However, England still scored 469 and the Windies have a helluva task ahead.

Brief scores: West Indies 32/1 (Alzarri Joseph 14 off 18 and Sam Curran 1/8) trial England 469/9 dec (Stokes 176, Sibley 120 and Chase 5/172) by 437 runs.

Windies’ baffling tactics in the first hour

If, after the first hour of play today, you wanted to desperately give Jason Holder a call and remind him that there was a second new-ball to be taken then congratulations, you were not the only one. 66 balls was what it took for the Windies to take the second new ball on Day 2 and it is a decision which, quite honestly, no one can still fathom. Giving your pacers 3-4 over with the old ball for them to loosen up and assess the pitch and the conditions is fine but 11 overs is too much of a stretch. And, worse, for most parts of it, Shannon Gabriel’s deliveries, for the second day running, hit the hands of the second slip fielder more than the stumps; he probably got all of 5 deliveries on target in his initial six-over spell.

By the time the second new-ball was summoned, both Sibley and Stokes - who, mind you, had some nervy moments in the morning - had gotten rid of their overnight rust, having already faced 32 and 34 balls respectively before coming up against the new cherry. Given Windies bowled 11 overs with the old ball, it was also puzzling to see Holder not give a single over to Roach with the old ball - he bowled the 12th over of the day directly with the new ball and he, too, was guilty of not asking enough questions. An error of judgement and a squandered opportunity for the away side to put early pressure on the hosts.

Time to summon Rahkeem Cornwall

Like the ‘Can we play you every week’ chant in Football, I’m pretty sure Roston Chase would have, by now, cooked up his very own, ‘Can I bowl to you every day’ chant for England. An astonishing 33.33% of Chase’s ALL TEST WICKETS have come against England and today, once again, the part-timer walked away with a five-wicket haul that was handed to him on a platter by English batsmen. But that begs the question: how much more damage could the Windies have inflicted on the hosts if they had a specialist spinner who is actually good?

Chase conceded 172 runs for his 5 wickets and went at 3.90 runs an over and by no means asked as many questions as a spinner should have asked of batsmen on a wicket that offered plenty of turn right from the first hour of the Test. He, for a vast majority of his 44 overs, strayed short and allowed the batsmen to rock back and slap him either through the point region or through square of the wicket on the on-side. Put simply, he did not ask enough questions of the batsmen on a helpful wicket and did not offer his pacers the help they needed, despite his wickets column suggesting otherwise.

With the final Test, too, set to be played at Old Trafford, it seems like a no-brainer for Windies to draft in the quality offie they have waiting in the sheds - Rahkeem Cornwall. Mind you, Cornwall took a 10-fer in his last Test and not only would his addition benefit the pacers, for he’ll bowl a lion’s share of the overs, he would also considerably strengthen the batting. The headache for the Windies will be to choose who the sacrificial goat to accommodate Cornwall will be.

Clouds 2-0 Captains

Unless for a miracle, it looks like the side that won the toss is on its way to lose the game for the second Test running. On the first day of the Ageas Bowl Test, Stokes underestimated the cloud cover and opted to bat first on a wicket that ended up getting progressively better for batting while here at Old Trafford, Holder overestimated the cloud cover and opted to bowl first on a wicket which looks like it’s all set to crumble on Day 5. Both captains have ended up getting played by the clouds and it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the third Test.

But jokes aside, given the recent history - with respect to results - attached to Old Trafford, it is indeed a bit puzzling that Holder opted to bowl first. Only one of the last 9 Tests at this venue has been won by the team bowling first - dating back to 2006 - and in those 9 Tests, 7 of them were won by teams that batted first (78%). While there was enough swing and lateral movement for the bowlers to exploit on both Day 1 and Day 2, at no point did the wicket look demonic. At least England scoring 468 hints towards that.

With the kind of turn that Chase was seen generating on the first two days, and with England having a better spinner in the form of Bess at their disposal, you wonder if Holder would be sitting in the dressing room regretting his decision to bowl. I, for one, though, suspect he made the call purely due to the lack of trust he has in his batsmen.