Jonny Bairstow hits another century as England pile on the runs in their warm-up match… but the bowling attack is already looking underwhelming without James Anderson and Stuart Broad
- Jonny Bairstow scored a century in a warm-up match for England on Wednesday
- Four other batsmen also hit fifties for the side as they racked up a big score
- However, the bowling attack looks uninspiring heading into the First Test
The good news is that five of England’s new-look top six made half centuries and Jonny Bairstow yesterday converted his into his second hundred in consecutive matches.
The bad is that an attack minus you know who looked one-paced and uninspiring when a West Indies President’s XI made a comfortable reply to England’s 466 for six declared in this Caribbean tour warm-up at Coolidge.
Perhaps it would be premature to panic about an England attack, minus its uncapped newcomers in Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher, that looks certain to take the field for the first Test here in Antigua next week based on an uneventful last session of the second day.
Jonny Bairstow scored another century after also hitting a ton in The Ashes in January
But with Ben Stokes unlikely to be fit enough to bowl until the second Test after his side injury and Mark Wood curiously missing yesterday as the home side reached 48 for two – officially he was ‘feeling a little off colour’ – there was an absence of anything different about England other than Jack Leach’s spin. And he probably won’t play next week.
The bottom line is that the absence of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad will continue to hang over England during this all-important three-Test series unless they find a way of taking wickets on what have become the largely turgid pitches of the Caribbean.
And England’s preference for Craig Overton over Mahmood and Fisher in what is likely to be an all-seam first Test attack smacks of the conservatism that was all too prevalent during the disastrous Ashes.
At least there was encouragement from the under-performing batting, led by a man in Bairstow who became the only England century-maker in the Ashes at Sydney but then missed the last Test in Hobart with a thumb injury. There was also an attacking 83 yesterday against a wilting home attack from Dan Lawrence in his new No4 position.
Craig Overton (above) may be a conservative choice if England pick him for the First Test
England may find it difficult to pick up 20 wickets without James Anderson and Stuart Broad
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