It’s time for England to find some new clues

7 March 2014

England can now start the real business of their short tour to the West Indies. They will play three Twenty20 matches here over five days as preparation for the world championship in Bangladesh later this month.

While the similarities between Bridgetown, venue for this series, and Chittagong, where England will play all their group matches, are not immediately apparent to the naked eye this is more than a glorified bonding session in paradise. It is the period when England (and come to that West Indies, the title holders) must hone their first-choice team and their stratagems for the tournament ahead.

Both of those components have been dealt a blow by the injury to Joe Root, who flew home last night with a broken right thumb.

He was struck on it early in his innings of 107 in the third one-day international on Wednesday.

Root had suddenly emerged as a key player partly because of his rediscovered batting form and partly because of his useful off-spin which England twice opened with against West Indies in the ODI series.

It will mean a slight amendment of their plans. Ian Bell, who had already been sent for as cover, is now firmly on standby for Bangladesh although England insist they have not yet abandoned hope of Root recovering in time.

They will know by Monday when he has seen a specialist.

England won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in 2010 when virtually everything they planned came off in style. They were easily the outstanding team of the piece.

Much has changed since then, not least that they have lost the player of that tournament, Kevin Pietersen, who is now, of course, the cricketer whose name must not be spoken.

This squad, by comparison, has been hastily cobbled together after England’s loss of five of their last six matches, including three in a row in Australia recently where it became an embarrassment.

Although it seems sometimes that T20 is taking over the world, there is actually precious little of it internationally. Since the last World Cup, for instance, England have played only 12 times in that form of the game.

That is why this period is crucial for Stuart Broad and Ashley Giles to finalise their plans for the tournament in Bangladesh, where surfaces will be fairly similar to those encountered in the one-day matches in Antigua.

From the look of it, they intend to employ spin and more spin.

The rapid advent of Stephen Parry of Lancashire, an unpredicted selection, has given them an option of a containing slow left-armer.

He will complement the varying off-spin of James Tredwell and Moeen Ali, though no longer Root. It may be a risky proposition against players in the sub-continent who are adept at playing slow bowling but equally it may be a risk worth taking.

The ability to change quickly if it is not working on a given day will be crucial to making progress.

England’s batting was superb in the final ODI in Antigua with Root’s seamless hundred, Jos Buttler’s blazing 99 and Ali’s confident 55.

Presumably, the innings will be opened by Michael Lumb and, if fit again, Alex Hales.

There is a case for moving Eoin Morgan up the order to three to fill the former role of the cricketer whose name should not be spoken.

England are likely to find tough opponents in the West Indies, whose batting personifies free-wheeling. Chris Gayle, the most illustrious of all T20 batsmen, returns to their ranks. If England can conjure something here they may find Chittagong much more to their liking.

It’s time for England to find some new clues

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