ENG vs WI | Old Trafford Day 1 Talking Points - Back to Gabriel, Joe Root’s trusted Pope and Buttler’s career-saving innings

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

07/24/2020

After being put to bat, England faltered and fell hard during the first two sessions, where they lost four wickets before an incredible partnership between Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler grouped them back together. From the other end, only Kemar Roach was successful as he picked his 199th Test wicket.

Brief scores: England 258/4 from 85.4 overs (Ollie Pope 91 and Kemar Roach 2/56) at Day 1 stumps

West Indies’ punt on Gabriel’s fitness

Two contrasting styles- one with England deciding to rest their bowlers and the other, West Indies who simply can’t be without the services of Shannon Gabriel for the fifth game in a row, this series. Clearly, Gabriel was seen struggling physically in both the Tests despite his incredible performance in the first Test in Southampton. Every time he went down, there was automatically a few people praying around on the Caribbean island about his fitness.

Ironically, so did Phil Simmons and co-taking a punt on the pacer’s fitness. In the series thus far, he has already thrown down 77 overs in just five innings only behind Jason Holder and Kemar Roach. When visibly, he has been struggling with this hamstring, the forced selection only added more misery to the pace attack. When he went down on Day 1, it showed how quickly the pace attack can struggle. Yet, as usual, the Windies management paid no heed to workload management, turning a page from their Indian counterparts.

Despite bringing in a budding bowling-attack, Simmons hasn’t quite turned many pages on his notebook going with the same tried and tested attack, which would only ultimately lead to their ineffectiveness due to the workload. With four more days left in at a drier Manchester, Windies have landed themself in a major coup in the attempt to bring home the ‘Wisden Trophy’ for the last time as Gabriel went wicketless on Day 1, conceding 47 runs.

Joe Root’s adventurous English batting banks on Ollie Pope

When Joe Root walked out for the toss, there was a kind of eerie feeling over who he would pick and choose in the bowling department for the decider at Old Trafford. However, there was never a discussion about which batsmen was set to miss from the fray. Then Root delivered the ultimate bomb, uttering the words that ‘Crawley misses out,’ and immediately the question was what happens to the batting unit? The Yorkshire man would turn back the days and return to No.3, with a dismal performance and Stokes at an unfamiliar No.4 position. Ben Stokes can’t be the answer to England’s every problem it is high time they start understanding it.

However, at the same time, there were two players, who have either struggled or not got enough opportunities to showcase their skills- Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler. Whilst Buttler has struggled, Pope has excelled and triumphed when the writing has been on the wall.

Last time it was against South Africa, this time against the Windies. The 22-year-old from Chelsea surely turned a new page with his batting effort and after three 12s in his last four innings, the adventurous batting lineup banked on Pope here. And he delivered in sublime fashion, thwarting the Windies attack with a poignant innings, unbeaten on 91 off 142 deliveries cementing his position.

With that innings, Jos Butter saves his Test career

It was just waiting around the corner, it was written all over the internet that Jos Buttler has been given a host of chances to save his Test career. Yes, his form has been a mishap since Jonny Bairstow was tried and tested against Australia but with Ben Foakes loitering around the corner, Buttler had to do it all. In the second Test, his 40 in the first innings was followed by a nought so the pressure was back again on Buttler to prove a point.

The criticism started to grow bigger and bigger as his stocks in white-ball cricket yet at the same time, he found himself at the right place at the right time. He continued to get the opportunities but time was ticking like a bomb. Before this Test, he averaged 31.79 but it wasn’t about the numbers, it was about the way he got himself on the pedestal and let it slip, applying the brakes whilst he was accelerating, which caused the downfall.

Yet he had to come good sometime in this series and he could not have chosen a better time at Old Trafford. The initial few overs were a struggle but eventually, once he got over that stage, Buttler looked himself with those two huge sixes against Cornwall’s bowling. Alongside Pope, he surely took England to a respectable total at the end of the day from a rather frustrating position for the hosts when they were four down with just 122 on board, with a sublime 56.