• Washed-out tourists prepare for final warm-up
• Jerome Taylor joins squad to face England Lions
All the West Indies’ camp had to look forward to on a damp day at Chelmsford was a coach trip to Derby. So this was not quite the zenith of their tour. The match against Essex, which has hardly been a fruitful experience for them, was abandoned at 2pm without a ball being bowled on the final day.
John Dyson, the West Indies coach, acknowledged that this was “a wasted opportunity”. On Sunday the West Indies were bowled out for 146 by a trio of novices. “We batted poorly except for Shiv [Chanderpaul],” said Dyson. “Shiv is Shiv but hopefully the others have learnt a good lesson about batting in England. Our players are very inexperienced in these conditions.” They remain so after occupying the crease for only 44.1 overs in this game.
It is unusual in this day and age that a touring team has as many as three practice matches before the Test series starts – West Indies have one more game against the England Lions starting at Derby on Thursday. It is also strange that two members of the team will not have played in any of them.
Dyson reported that Jerome Taylor, the fast bowler who decided the series in the Caribbean with one magical spell in Jamaica, was due to arrive in England today and that he is supposed to be “fully fit”. He will play at Derby. The Indian Premier League duo, Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards, are expected in England on 3 May so will have two days’ practice before the first Test at Lord’s.
Asked if this disrupted the preparation of his team, Dyson shrugged his shoulders – he was in that sort of mood – and said: “That’s a fact of life in world cricket.” England’s potential Test players at the IPL are due to arrive back on 1 May but at least Gayle and Edwards have been playing some cricket, unlike Paul Collingwood or Owais Shah who have merely been carrying drinks onto the field for their Delhi Daredevil team-mates.
Like all modern coaches Dyson was cagey about his likely Test line-up, saying there was “still a race on” for his tourists – even though none of their batsmen made any headway at Chelmsford.
They must decide who accompanies Gayle at the top of the order. Devon Smith had the job in the Caribbean and looked at home until the advent of an English off-spinner. Graeme Swann kept dismissing him there; at Chelmsford Smith could not survive an over from James Middlebrook. Dale Richards, a 32 year old Barbadian yet to make his Test debut, is the alternative.
Lionel Baker, just about the best of the West Indian seamers in this match, is the likely support bowler to Edwards and Taylor, while there may be a choice between Darren Sammy and Sulieman Benn for the other bowling position.
It provides plenty to occupy the minds of West Indies’ hierarchy on their way to Derby for their final game before defending the Wisden Trophy. That match against the England Lions may resolve their selectorial dilemmas though as the clouds thickened and the rain grew heavier, the idea of preparing for this series in Durban rather than Derby seemed to have much to commend it.