England v West Indies preview: A premature departure for England’s greatest?

England get their Test summer underway this month with three matches against the West Indies, with the first instalment of the Wisden Trophy taking place at Lord’s on Wednesday.

The focus for the next few days, however, will undoubtedly be on fast bowler James Anderson’s last ever game for his country, with his 22-year Test career being brought into a forced conclusion by ECB director Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum.

Amidst the distracting backdrop however, England need to get their Test campaign back on track as they sit bottom of the World Test Championship, so there’s plenty to play for over the next three weeks.

We preview the action below.

England v West Indies – Wednesday 11:00

On paper, this will be one of the easier tasks England and Brendon McCullum will have to overcome on their quest for Test match supremacy – a campaign that has been sobered by three consecutive winless series against New Zealand, Australia and India.

England find themselves bottom of the World Test Championship at the halfway point of its duration and will likely have to take a look in the mirror should they continue their lack of recent success on both the red ball and white ball fronts. A 4-1 defeat to India was largely expected, but the manner of defeats in the final three matches was a concerning insight into the fragilities that remain in this England batting line up.

England’s bowling attack has certainly seen more glorified days too. Chris Woakes is a superb domestic seamer but has only taken one first class wicket since the Ashes last summer. Ben Stokes bowls once in a blue moon, while Shoaib Bashir and the deputising Gus Atkinson both have minimal Test experience.

It poses the question as to why Rob Key has chosen to step down James Anderson from the Test setup at this point. While many will argue that the ECB are attempting to phase in a new era of England quicks in preparation for the next Ashes tour, it doesn’t seem like a particularly wise time to do so, with the likes of Josh Tongue, Olly Stone and Jofra Archer still unfit to play their part.

Anderson unsurprisingly leads the top bowler market for the hosts at 6/4, but we like the look of Chris Woakes in these conditions despite his lack of match fitness. On the Lord’s slope and with some overcast weather forecast, his price of 2/1 to take the most Windies scalps looks good value.

The other notable talking point for England is the inclusion of Jamie Smith as wicket keeper instead of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes – the latter of whom must be wondering what on earth he has to do to nail down a place in the Test side. Smith will likely have a busy few days behind the stumps due to how frequently batsmen edge behind at Lord’s, while he is 7/1 to transcend his duty with the gloves and rack up the most runs for his country in the first innings.

Any hope for the Windies?

The West Indies have won two of the last three Test series against England, but Kraigg Brathwaite’s side haven’t won an away series in England since a 4-0 thumping in 1988 and begin the game as 17/2 outsiders, with England as little as 2/13. Keep an eye on the draw selection too at 8/1 with rain forecast over the coming days.

They’ve only featured in one Test series since barely laying a glove when hosting India last July, though one of those matches saw them incredibly defeat Australia by eight runs at the Gabba, with Shamar Joseph running riot in the second innings.

They have a potent pace attack and will certainly pose problems for England in these conditions, spearheaded by the aforementioned Joseph, the veteran Jason Holder, Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph (unrelated to Shamar). Of those options, Seales leads the top bowler market at 7/4, with Holder providing some nice value at 12/5.

It’s the batting card which the tourists need to work on. Other than captain Brathwaite, who is the 3/1 favourite to top the run scoring charts for his side, it’s difficult to see who else the Windies will turn to in order to record a good enough score that will apply pressure on England. All will be revealed at the Home of Cricket in due course.