ENG vs WI | Winners and Losers ft. Rain gods, Hopeful Windies and Black Lives Matter

Winners

At Southampton, England were rocked by a fantabulous performance from the visiting West Indian side, one that they did not expect. A visibly dejected Stuart Broad was on the borderline of bashing the selection strategy. However, remember what followed was a mastermind from Silverwood. Directly or indirectly, he propelled the 34-year-old Nottingham pacer to pick up 16 wickets at an average of 10.93. Now if that was not enough, he even propelled an average Chris Woakes to perform magically in the second and third Test, so gold to ‘Silver’wood. 

While cricket was one of the obvious winners as the game restarted on an international level for the first time since the absence, the stance from both sides kicked-off cricket in the most beautiful of fashion. #BlackLivesMatter has been a long-standing issue across the globe but since the turn of this year, it has had its searing effect more than ever. For ECB to put up such a brilliant message alongside the West Indies team, it was a marvellous sight for the cricket fans. On top of that, every player took the knee and supported the cause as one big cricketing nation. 

The series might be remembered for being the home to many landmarks- Stuart Broad's 500 Test wickets, Kemar Roach's 200 Test wickets and the last of Wisden Trophy but moreso, it will be remembered for how cricket united for supporting a noble cause. This is just the first step from cricket to set things right on point and as it stands right now, it has already started on the right track. 

England finally for god’s sake decided to rotate their bowlers and the biggest winner from their decision was none other than the 30-year-old from Ashington, Mark Andrew Wood. Before this series, Wood was rather a deadwood thanks to Root’s rigorous use of the bowler. So much so he was involved in everything for England against South Africa, be it with the bat, on the field or with the ball. He’s definitely a ‘Madman’ with his potential just on the highest of the ceiling. At Southampton, he bowled exactly 34 overs against the 57 overs that he bowled in his last two encounters against South Africa. 

And before the limited-overs series, the 30-year-old is a big winner as he could go into the series fresh, having just played one game in the three-match Test series. A long summer awaits the pacer, as England are set to welcome Pakistan and Australia later in the coming days. So full points to Root, Stokes and whoever was involved in the decision-making process as Wood finally got what he needed, a proper workload. 

Rain Gods

Oh well, a series in England always has a visiting presence from its dear friend, Rain Gods. Hold on, they have made their presence felt thus far in the series, appearing every time West Indies needed them to. Whilst it was expected to be there for at least three to four days in the series, it had a shorter appearance. In Manchester, a place that is well-known for its rain more than two of the biggest football clubs, United and City, rains only lasted one and a half-day. The entire fourth day was washed-out before rains came haunting once again on the fifth day. 

‘Hope’ful Windies

Phil Simmons before the series was hopeful and really hopeful that the West Indies batsmen had a steady chance of winning against England after their failed attempts in 2017. Their hopes naturally lay on the shoulders of their star batsmen from the previous tour, Shai Hope. But since the turn of 2017, he has been rather hopeless than hopeful and his batting has been on an all-time low. Since 2017, purely on the basis of numbers Hope averages 20.23 in 2018, 19.75 in 2019 and 17.5 in 2020. 

Steve Elworthy

It always had to be a choice between Steve Elworthy and Ben Foakes for the last of the losers segment. One for the straight-forward reason which has a certain Jos Buttler attached to it and the other again for a well-documented reason, England’s bio-secure bubble. Ahead of this series, the biosecure bubble almost made the news around the world and questions were attached to it as well, with people’s doubts over what would happen if someone broke the protocol.