Firstly I think the ECB owe the West Indies a great deal - I don't think if the boot was on the other foot that we would be touring over there. I hope they don't forget how they have helped them out
The side are likely to be seriously under cooked - I would have had a full scale game within the squad (made possible by the fact that there is no county cricket) I would have a "Probables" v "Posibles" game - here are my sides: Probables - - Possibles Sibley - - Roy Burns - - Crawley Denly - - Jennings Root - - Lawrence Stokes - - Bairstow Pope - - Foakes Butler - - Curran S Archer - - Ali Broad - - Woakes Anderson - - Wood Leach - - Stone
England have named Dom Bess as their spinner in a 13-man squad for the first Test against West Indies, which begins on Wednesday. Off-spinner Bess is chosen ahead of Jack Leach and Moeen Ali, who is not among the list of nine reserves. Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Joe Denly will be the top four in the absence of Joe Root, who misses out for the birth of his second child. Ben Stokes will stand in as captain for Root in Southampton. England squad: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
So after 3 days it's IMO advantage to the West Indies - I thought the way they bowled, especially Holder, was more disciplined than us We need to bat well now and set at least 180?
The biggest talking point was England's bowling selection - they had to select 3 from Anderson, Broad, Archer, Wood and Woakes The selection of Archer and Wood together appears to have one eye on the Ashes tour - not sure it was the right selection for this particular test
Bowling selection all over the place - given the Old Trafford wicket you would have thought that Wood & Archer would have played there and not in Southampton. I agree with Crawley keeping his place over Denly for the return of the captain
