Where’s our cutting edge? Day one at Trent Bridge

West Indies 304-6

The West Indies have never lost a test at Trent Bridge – and if they continue where they left off today, they’ll keep that astonishing record intact. But if the worst does happen, England will only have themselves to blame. A top test team does not let a lower order batsman like Darren Sammy dominate. Marlon Samuels is another matter – as he’s a top order player – but even then, he’s the number six batsman in a low ranking test nation. He’s hardly bloody Brain Lara.

Today was a really depressing day from England’s point of view – and one which makes us wonder whether our form is going in the wrong direction. We had them on the rack at 136-6 but let them escape to 304-6 overnight. And it wasn’t Adam Gilchrist, or even Shiv Chanderpaul, who turned the day on its head: it was two journeymen cricketers. They played well, so fair play to them, but the supposed best test team in the world shouldn’t let things like this happen.

The problem, from where we were sitting, was a complete lack of cutting edge. The pitch offered a little movement off the seam, but was otherwise good for batting; therefore Samuels and Sammy were able to get on the front foot and simply play through the line of the ball all day. It looked so simple – and anything they timed went to the boundary (the outfield was lightening fast).

Batting at test level should not be that easy – unless you’re a top nation playing Bangladesh or possibly New Zealand. Good teams have big fast men like Morne Morkel, or even Ryan Harris, who can push the batsmen back and keep them honest.

England’s bowlers were medium pace at best all day – not even Broad bowled much more than 80mph – and Samuels made Tim Bresnan look like Gavin Larsen. Where was our big nasty quick? I’ll tell you where: he was sitting in the dressing room. The only time we saw Steve Finn was during one of Sky’s lunchtime specials; he was hitting golf balls with former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.

England’s plan is usually to sit in the game, keep things tight, and wait for the opposition to make mistakes. Today it didn’t happen. Samuels played too carefully whilst Darren Sammy’s somewhat agricultural but highly effective hitting kept the runs ticking over at a lively rate.

So what was plan B? That’s right, plan B. I’m afraid that this England team don’t have one. Admittedly, plan A has worked pretty well in recent times, but you can’t keep doing exactly the same things in all conditions and expect success 100% of the time. The great Australian teams of the 1990s always had a trick up their sleeve. Unfortunately, the composition of this particular England attack doesn’t permit anything creative.

Sometimes the batting side rides their luck and seems unstoppable. This evening’s session was one such occasion. England kept plugging away outside off-stump, but the Windies rarely nicked one. Instead they played and missed once an over, or got a thick edge through the slips for four. The momentum was with them and our bowlers had no answer.

In such circumstances fresh thinking is required. Unfortunately, the only time our bowlers did anything different was when Chanderpaul came to the crease: we decide to pepper him with short balls. If bouncers were England’s contingency, why was our tallest and fastest bowler making the drinks? That’s a good question, isn’t it Mr Flower.

James Morgan