Back in the Caribbean Jason Holder’s team had in the opener walloped the tourists, for whom Stuart Broad had been left out, albeit for tactical reasons. At Southampton the Windies again triumphed and Broad moaned publicly. Maybe he needed taking down a peg or two so he was really fired up and ready for the Old Trafford double-header. If that was the strategy it worked brilliantly.
The Second Test had been Ben Stokes’ triumph but the decider was undoubtedly Broad’s It was also inspiring to watch Chris Woakes at his most accurate but his 34 year-old team-mate took the honours as well as that landmark 500th Test wicket.
So in cricket terms it was success for Joe Root and England, Ben Stokes’ batting and Stuart Broad’s bowling. For West Indies, Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach looked world-class at times but the batting was terribly brittle in Manchester, a frequent refrain in recent years. Dowrich’s ‘keeping looked extremely ragged, too.
But the last few weeks haven’t really been about what happened on the pitch. It was about reviving the whole sport after months of inactivity courtesy of the Coronavirus pandemic. Massive credit must go to the tourists who had to endure weeks of isolation before any play was possible. The idiotic Jofra Archer nearly messed the whole thing up by his selfish diversion home after leaving Southampton but luckily he didn’t spread any infection.
The secure Covid-proof bubble may have wobbled a bit but it held firm to permit three full Test matches. All that was missing, of course, were the crowds but thank goodness the broadcaster stopped short of providing a fake soundtrack. Or maybe it was there but, given the reserved nature of Test cricket spectators, I just didn’t spot the difference!
This week a few county matches are taking place with limited attendance to facilitate social distancing. Much as I love the county game, I do wonder how on earth they are going to attract as many as a thousand into The Oval for anything other than a hot summer evening’s T20. Despite what the buffoon Boris Johnson says, if there are to be no cricket-related infection spikes, social distancing is here to stay, certainly for the remainder of the summer. The crowd-less Premier League contests proved successful in re-energising fans but only those elite clubs could afford to complete the season without paying customers and the ancillary income generated by bars and takeaway food stands.
Sadly events in the USA, Asia, Anfield, Elland Road and some parts of Europe have demonstrated that many young people are too selfish to consider wider society in their rush to get back into the traditional summer pastimes of boozing and partying. Holidays to Spain have been curtailed almost as soon as they restarted and the only arenas to fill up have been hospital ICU wards. None of us want a return to the dark days of April but if interest in cricket can continue to be generated by England’s games with the Windies and Pakistan, along with truncated domestic competitions and even village cricket I’m all for it. It’s been a tough year so far so let’s embrace cricket in this ‘new normal’ world.
