Three days at Lords

So what did we learn from England’s easy victory over the West Indies? Nothing much I suspect. It is difficult to draw conclusions from one match. Great performances can soon lose their lustre after a few poor ones and similarly a poor performance is forgotten when superseded by a match winning one.

For England the big winners were Bopara, Swann and Onions. All three are relative or actual newcomers and all played big parts in England’s win. Swann was particularly impressive knocking his first fifty and dismissing Chanderpaul twice. As for Onions, I wonder if a debutant has ever taken his first three test wickets in one over! Remarkable. He reminded me a little of Peter Siddle and that is no bad thing. England need a workhorse who can keep running in.

I thought Bresnan was poorly treated. He was only given seven overs in the match on debut – what chance has he got to shine there. I wondered if Strauss has a lack of faith in him.

The West Indies were just plain poor. Fidel Edwards bowled with fire and no luck and was by far the standout player. The indiscipline of old returned with a bang. Let us hope they pull it together by the time the next Test starts.