Windies not up to scratch against England, says Holder

England won the day-night Test – the first game in the three-match series – by an innings and 209 runs inside three days at Edgbaston.

Besides stating that this side isn’t the right team to play against before the England side takes on Australia in the Ashes, Boycott wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “This West Indies lot are the worst Test match team I have seen in more than 50 years of watching, playing and commentating on cricket”, he wrote in The Telegraph.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson are one of the most successful opening bowling combination in recent times, with the two bowlers now also occupying the top spots for the highest wicket-takers in England.

West Indies’ occasional off-spinner Kraigg Brathwaite has been reported to the ICC for a suspect bowling action following the first Test hammering at the hands of England.

Amid a welter of depressing statistics for the West Indies, perhaps the worst was that they lost 19 wickets in under a day on Saturday after being made to follow-on.

With little time to regroup before the next Test bowls off in Leeds on Friday, Holder held out hope that turning the series around was not mission impossible.

Windies must rethink their team selection to maximise their chances of rallying after a crushing defeat in the first Test to England, says Michael Holding, yesterday.

When conditions are favourable to bowlers, techniques are exposed, batsmen struggle to find their inner Bear Grylls and we find the game ridiculously advanced to the point where the victor is virtually certain after a day and a half.

“That has been in my mind since this Test series started – and I’ve been talking about it for years”, said Holding, a long-serving broadcaster on Sky Sports cricket commentary team. Their squad is missing several star names, the legacy of a bitter dispute with their board and the attraction of the lucrative Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament that is taking place at the same time as this tour.

“Obviously the guys are disappointed. What have we got?'”

Anderson then ran out Kieran Powell, who had embarked on a calamitous quick single, with a direct hit before he got rid of Roston Chase, inducing him to play on.

When exactly did the soul of “over my dead body” leave us in Test cricket?

Behind wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow: one, two, three helmets, all lined up like trophies. “I hate being left, it feels like a waste, so the most important thing is that I make the batsmen play pretty much every ball”, Broad spoke about how he feels when he is in the zone. Toby Roland-Jones, the new man in the seam attack, finished it off when he forced an outside edge from Alzarri Joseph. Anderson had a wicket just six balls into the day’s play when Kyle Hope was caught in the gully for his overnight 25. He has been in terrific rhythm in the past few years and has bowled jaw-dropping spells both with the new and the old ball.

For the visitors, the only bright spot with the bat was Jermaine Blackwood’s fighting inning (79* off 76 balls) in the first innings.