Jonny Bairstow’s magnificent century rescued England in Antigua
(Picture: Getty Images)A new Test era for England started dreadfully in their series opener against West Indies on Tuesday.
In their first Test outing since the Ashes humiliation in Australia, Joe Root’s side slumped to 48-4 during the very first session on day one before a majestic century from Jonny Bairstow helped the tourists recover to 268-6 at stumps.
Standard Sport’s cricket correspondent Will Macpherson is in Antigua and provides the first instalment of his tour diary from the Caribbean...
Robinstone
A welcome sight for England fans during the lunch break in Antigua, as Olly Stone bowled on the square. Injury-prone Stone, who has played four Tests, suffered a stress fracture last summer, and has not played since.
He has been flown out to Antigua to train with the team, and looks to be coming along nicely. The target is a return with Warwickshire in the Vitality Blast at the end of May which, on the available evidence, appears understandably cautious.
More worrying was that Ollie Robinson, who was pencilled in to play this Test before a back spasm last week, was bowling alongside him. He was barely able to run in, and bowled as much off-spin (as per Adelaide last year) as seam up. Seeing him walk laps of the ground with a strength and conditioning coach suggests next week’s Test in Barbados will come too soon.
Vizards
The CricViz empire expands. The statistics company work with a host of franchise teams and almost every decent cricket broadcaster around the world, as well as running a successful media arm with a team of writers. It appears they (or their parent company Ellipse Data) are poised to announce a deal with the ECB, taking over from Opta as suppliers of scorecards and stats for the English game.
Who knows where the innovators, founded in 2015 with England analyst Nathan Leamon involved, will take things for the ECB, but stats have a part to play in England’s red-ball reset as they look to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket. Speed guns – whether publicly available or not – in county cricket would be a helpful start.
On the move
Tom Alsop was once an England Lions batter, with an international career a possibility. The Hampshire batter has not kicked on, though, and is set to leave the county for the summer.
It is expected that he will spend this summer on loan at Sussex, for whom he would be a senior batter. Ben Brown, the wicketkeeper-bat, went the other direction along the A27 this summer.
Baffled Bairstow
One of the highlights of day one in Antigua was Jonny Bairstow’s face when incorrectly given out caught behind on 59. He reviewed, baffled…
Jonny Bairstow couldn't believe that was given out 🤨😂#WIvENG pic.twitter.com/J0pLbgJmyx
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) March 8, 2022
Law and order
The Marylebone Cricket Club, guardians of the laws of the game, announced a raft of changes to those laws, effective October 1 this year. Here’s the headlines:
- Mankads are no longer controversial dismissals.
- “Crossing” no longer exists. The new batter will always face the ball after a dismissal. This was used in the Hundred, and will now be spread.
- The application of saliva to the ball will remain illegal permanently. This was outlawed when the pandemic struck for hygiene reasons, and has had no negative impact on the game, so will stay for good. MCC also pointed out that this closes the “loophole” of applying sweet substances to the ball, as Marcus Trescothick and Faf du Plessis – among many others – have in the past.
Keynote address
England fans are back in the Caribbean, and so are their banners. A staple of pre-pandemic touring was the “Bob Key Fan Club On Tour” banner placed carefully next to “Who Is Bob Key?” – presumably in honour of Standard Sport columnist Rob Key. Have they not seen how he’s trimmed down since his playing days ended?!
