England encouraged but Marlon Samuels gives West Indies a platform

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/21/west-indies-england-second-test

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England may be happy enough with the position in which they find themselves after the first day of the second Test that started an hour and three quarters late because of a sequence of irritating showers and was curtailed by the sun sinking towards the Caribbean sea and the light closing in.

The 70 overs that were possible saw West Indies reach 188 for five, despite having struggled to make headway on a sticky pitch that made timing difficult and a grabby outfield that held up all but the most sweetly struck shot.

To get this far, Marlon Samuels battled away, responsibly restrained for the most part, and with more panache later, especially when given back-foot opportunities. He will resume the second day on 94 – from 186 balls and with 13 fours – cut and pulled for the most part: it was an excellent innings.

England should have done better. There was a moment of magic from Jimmy Anderson in his second over, when – following a couple of away swingers – he produced such a wickedly dipping inswinger that Kraigg Brathwaite might have considered leaving it outside off stump, but which deviated so alarmingly it struck the leg stump instead. The other seamers all chipped in during the day too.

This though was always going to be a tricky pitch on which to score but one where a batsman could feel reasonably comfortable on the back foot. If not exactly like it, those old enough to remember an old-fashioned uncovered pudding of a pitch will know that on those, it was considered an indictable offence to encourage cross-bat shots, or even to allow batsmen the luxury of the back foot at all. Bowl short and the ball stood up. Pitch it up though, bowling a tight line and the only scoring option becomes the drive, and given the propensity for the ball to stick in the pitch a little, this could be a hazardous occupation unless it was to a long half-volley.

Throughout the day, England certainly bowled too wide too often, including Anderson with the new ball, especially to left-handers, across whose bows he persists in bowling – and probably too short as well at times, and not only when they tried it as a deliberate unsettling device to the young Jermaine Blackwood. Only Ben Stokes – who gave the medical staff a scare by twisting his knee in the outfield and going down like a bag of cement, but then put heart and soul into his bowling – looked to have the measure of where to pitch the ball with his skiddier pace.

There was some turn for Moeen Ali, on his return to the side following recovery from injury sustained during the World Cup: a slightly damp pitch will often help the spinner as well as seamer and a couple towards the end of the day bounced as well. He looked rusty, dragged the ball down too often and needs a few more overs to regain the rhythm of bowling in a match rather than the nets. It is the nature of touring these days that opportunities outside the Tests are so infrequent.

The fielding was not entirely faultless either. When the left-handed Devon Smith had made 13, he flicked Chris Jordan just to the left of Gary Ballance – only just posted at leg slip for just such a shot – who could parry but not hold on. But as Smith was dismissed three balls later it had little consequence. Later, when Blackwood was on 20, Stuart Broad could not cling on to a sharp return catch. The costliest on the day though was a reprieve for Samuels, who, when 32, drove at Jordan, and Alastair Cook fumbled a swift catch to his right at first slip.

As had been widely expected, England made just the single change to the side who largely dominated the drawn first Test. Nonetheless the deliberations into the balance of the team was said still to be undecided on the morning of the match and even in the half hour leading up to the toss.

It was never going to be straightforward with two elements – the pitch and the weather – coming into the equation. The pitch, a reddy-brown colour, which had been damp enough the day before the match to push a thumb into it, was still clammy and not fully hardened up. So even on this basis there would have been a strong reason for wanting to bowl first. But the risk in this was two fold, in that it also had the potential to go crusty when it dried and offer turn later, while there could be a danger of the ball pitting the surface, which marks when hardened and can cause uneven bounce later on, particularly for a tall bowler to exploit. The fourth innings could be equally tricky.

The weather was the clincher though. Although the island was bathed in sunshine early on, the clouds had already started to build by the time the teams had got to the ground on the other side of St George’s from their respective hotels, and the humidity had risen almost to an oppressive sapping Colombo level.

England resisted any temptation they might have had to tinker with their side, in particular ignoring suggestions in some places that Adil Rashid should replace either Jordan or Stokes. Rashid though has done nothing, neither with the Lions in South Africa nor during England’s tour warm-ups in St Kitts to advance any real claim. Moeen’s return on the other hand was entirely predictable, at the expense of James Tredwell.

If this seems unduly harsh on someone who bowled worthily, particularly in taking four wickets in the first innings in Antigua, then there is still nothing wrong in improving the team by including a better player. Moeen is already an accomplished Test player both with bat, as he showed with his rearguard century against Sri Lanka at Headingley, and with ball, demonstrated against India at the Ageas Bowl. Few, least of all Tredwell himself, would have been surprised by the decision.