Despite the resting of key bowlers, you'd have to back England to polish off an impressive 3-0 thrashing of the West Indies at Headingley. Darren Sammy's players have the ability to get a result but too many of them fail to perform consistently, especially at the top of the batting order. Their T20 specialists Pollard and Dwayne Bravo have often looked perplexed when faced with a bit more responsibility and a different kind of bowling, and it will be interesting to see how Chris Gayle copes with the 50-over game after so long in the shadows, should he be fit to play, that is.
It's been a while since England whitewashed the Windies in a 3-game home ODI series. They did so in both 1988 and 1991 in the days when the visitor had a team worthy of fear and respect. 21 years ago, the 55-over Texaco Trophy series began in Leeds, with England sneaking a one-wicket win when Mike Atherton carried his bat for 69 against Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose and Patterson. Two days later at Old Trafford, the winning margin was a mere nine runs when skipper Viv Richards couldn't quite see his side home and Allan Lamb was the man of the match. The 3-0 was achieved with far more ease. Graeme Hick and Neil Fairbrother shared a double-century partnership, the latter striking 113 in a seven-wicket triumph.
Perhaps the more surprising whitewash came in 1988. The West Indies had enjoyed successive 5-0 thumpings of England in Test series and, although no longer one-day world champs, were still a formidable force in all forms of cricket. Indeed, they went on to win four of the five Tests later that summer, when Curtly Ambrose was imperious and nigh-on unplayable. However, the tourists' summer got off to the worst start when England won in Birmingham by six wickets.
The Windies fielded almost exactly the same eleven as faced England three years later but the home team had a different look. Gladstone Small took the wickets of Greenidge Richards, Logie and Hooper as Viv Richards' men were dismissed for only 217. In reply, debutant Monte Lynch was run out second ball for a duck but captain Gatting's unbeaten 82 saw them home and signalled England would not be a pushover.
Runs were even harder to come by at Heaingley, and all six Windies bowlers kept things tight. Perhaps the pitch suited the seamers, as first Dujon, then Downton pouched four catches behind the wicket. Small was again on fire, taking 2-11 from nine overs, while Derek Pringle's medium pace claimed 3-30, and Viv's men capitulated 47 runs short.
At Lord's, England put the opposition into bat again, and their supremely talented batsmen once more failed to deliver. That they reached 178-7 owed most to Malcolm Marshall's 41 in 30 balls at the end. De Freitas and Pringle were particularly mean in attack. So were Marshall and Walsh, but it was Hooper's spin that was the weak link - and the high number of no-balls - and after a slow start, Gatting and Lamb ensured a highly unexpected trio of triumphs.
So what was the secret? Are there any parallels with the current England side? Here's one possible answer. In that concluding fixture, the team fielded Lamb, Pringle, Radford, De Freitas, Small and Lynch. The first three were born in Africa, the latter trio in the Caribbean. Say no more! Strauss and Flower must hope that the class of 2012 do not fold so flabbily as their predecessors did in the following five-day matches. While South Africa should perform better than India last year, somehow I doubt they will match the world Test number ones.
