A strong West Indies can only be good for the global game - Chris Waters

TIME and again we hear the phrase “a strong Yorkshire is a strong England”.

It has certainly seemed so in recent times, with Yorkshire providing a number of players to the international set-up.

Another phrase that might be added to the cricketing lexicon is this: “a strong West Indies is a strong cricket”.

For although they are not one of the so-called “Big Three” (India, Australia and England), West Indies are still the spiritual heartbeat of the glorious game, a proud nation whose skills and style inspired many of us to fall in love with cricket in the first place.

To see the West Indies making such a good fist of the opening Test at the Ageas Bowl, where they head into day four with a lead of 99 after they scored 318 in reply to England’s 204, the hosts closing day three on 15-0 in their second innings, has been good for the soul if perhaps not the equilibrium of England’s supporters.

Clearly those supporters want England to win (and they will expect them to do so even in unfamiliar biosecure conditions), but it is also in cricket’s best interests that West Indies thrive as a Test-playing entity and rise to the heights of which they are capable.

To witness their sharp decline since the glory days of the late 20th-century, when they were indisputably the finest team on the planet, has been painful to behold for those prepared to look beyond parochial concerns and to savour simply the extraordinary natural abilities that have long emanated from the talent-rich Caribbean.

Some may have little sympathy that the West Indies have tumbled down the world rankings – after all, they dished out enough beatings back in the day – but a strong West Indies is indeed a strong cricket, and the game needs its Caribbean muscle now more than ever.

If Test cricket is not to wither on the vine, as it battles for relevance and survival in the modern era, then it needs an all-singing, all-dancing West Indies side, one capable of pulling in the crowds and/or drawing in the viewers.

It needs more people like the current West Indies captain Jason Holder, more pace bowlers of the quality of Holder himself, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph, along with batsmen of the traditional Caribbean vintage.

No one would deny that there is still much work to be done; West Indies are eighth in those rankings after all, with only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh below them, and their batting is most definitely a work in progress when you think back to the old masters that they used to have at their disposal such as Vivian Richards and Brian Lara.

But there are signs of a good team starting to emerge, one that was good enough to beat England 2-1 in the Caribbean early last year and which is well overseen by head coach Phil Simmons and by director of cricket Jimmy Adams, two former West Indies batsmen.

The green shoots of West Indian resurgence have continued to sprout in Southampton, albeit aided and abetted by England’s questionable decision to bowl first on Wednesday morning and also to leave out a man with 485 Test wickets to his name in Stuart Broad.

It could be argued that England simply did not bat well enough in their first innings on a dry surface, which is perfectly true, and that it was entirely acceptable to go with the searing pace of Mark Wood at Broad’s expense.

Equally, it could be argued that England were unwise to bat first beneath leaden skies, that the weather forecast was much better from day three onwards and that Broad would have been a better bet in these conditions.

The Test is not over yet, however, and it is premature to conduct the inquest before the match has been consigned to the cricketing mortuary.

Suffice to say that everything, so far, has not quite gone to plan for the hosts and their acting captain Ben Stokes.

Indeed, the West Indies have done a better job of adapting to English conditions than England, showing patience with the ball – probing away on and around off stump – and composure with the bat. Their watchword has been discipline and it has paid off handsomely.

In sunny weather, the tourists were given a good platform yesterday by opener Kraigg Brathwaite, who battled it out for 65 from 125 balls in a typically tenacious performance.

The former Yorkshire player, who began the day on 20 out of 57-1, nudged, nurdled and expressed himself selectively; he hit three fours in the over from Stokes in which he eventually fell lbw.

Dom Bess, another former Yorkshire player, bowled well with some teasing off-spin, which accounted for Shai Hope (via a slip catch from Stokes) and also Jermaine Blackwood, who slapped to James Anderson at mid-off. Bess has let no one down in his brief international career and looks to be made of the right stuff. There were useful contributions from Shane Dowrich (61) and Roston Chase (47), the latter’s name sounding like a village in the nearby Hampshire countryside.

Stokes returned the best figures of 4-49 and Anderson led the effort with 3-62, but Wood and Jofra Archer managed only one wicket between them, their combined figures reading: 44-5-135-1.

It is West Indies who hold the upper hand – good news for the wider game of cricket, if perhaps not the hosts.

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