A lot has changed for England in the five-and-a-half months since they were rolled and humiliated for 99 and deprived the riches of cricket’s then-saviour, now scoundrel, Allen Stanford. Back in November England were playing for an unprecedented US$20 million. Now they’re seeking just pride and respect, neither of which will pay for a new car or house, but those two cashless entities are craved by a sport and country who went cap in hand to a grinning face of fraud. Therapists call it closure, and England need to draw a line under the past and get their cricket back on track.
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It will not be easy. They lost 1-0 in the Test series to a team they were expected to beat by at least two Tests, and they remain a side without a formal coach, whose bowling attack has groaned and creaked on unforgiving pitches. The biggest challenge for Andrew Strauss tomorrow, however, is himself: he hasn’t played a one-day international for England since the World Cup two years ago, when he was horribly out of form, and it’s three years since he pulled on a Twenty20 shirt. His remarkable Test form counted as a genuine plus for England, but whether he can translate that into ODIs remains to be seen. He is not the Marcus Trescothick-replacement that England crave, so there could be an opportunity for Ravi Bopara – who creamed his maiden Test hundred in Barbados – to shift up the order and get England off to the flier they so often fail to. Dimitri Mascarenhas also seems certain to play. Oddly ignored since last June, he is the only England player to have jumped ship to the IPL and was effectively dropped in place of Samit Patel, who has paid the price for his continued portly stature.
For West Indies, they welcome back Dwayne Bravo, who has been injured for six months, along with three members of the Superstars who walloped England for US$20 million last November – Andre Fletcher, Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy. Their captain, Chris Gayle, remains injured however and England, too, are shorn of experience with both Paul Collingwood (stomach bug) and Andrew Flintoff unlikely starters.
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