London: Some people are going to blame Joe Root for declaring and not batting on and making sure the game was safe. But I disagree. To score 322 in the fourth innings was a hell of a lot of runs. Obviously it will make Joe wary of declaring in the future.
When Len Hutton put Australia in to bat at Brisbane in 1954 and lost by an innings he always said after that, “If you think of putting a side into bat, think again and bat yourself”.
Joe will be the same about declaring, but I hope it does not make him a safe captain because he could not legislate for Alastair Cook dropping two slip catches or the number of times the ball beat the bat when it was new from Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson. That is the game. It was great for cricket.
If West Indies had been set a ridiculously high target they would have shut up shop for a draw. We would have had a tiresome day with only one side going for a win.
If you asked all the people who paid at the ground, those watching television and listening on radio have they enjoyed the day, most would say yes because it has been thrilling and exciting.
It is brilliant for West Indies cricket because they had only won two away Tests outside Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in 17 years.
After the debacle at Edgbaston, when they lost 19 wickets in a day and were badly embarrassed, many former players like me criticised the team.
After Edgbaston I said they were the worst West Indies team I had ever seen. They were terrible in that match. The comments West Indies coach Stuart Law took exception to were those from the Antiguan great fast bowler Sir Curtly Ambrose.
What West Indies players and coaches should remember is Curtly, or anyone else, cannot give out nice compliments after watching bad cricket. He took pride in his own performance and to watch West Indies sink so low in bowling and batting must have hurt him deeply.
If we all did not tell the truth we would be failing the public and lose our own credibility. That criticism seems to have stung the players and the kick in the media appears to have done the trick and made West Indies players angry enough for them to reassess how they were batting and bowling. At Headingley they gave us a great Test match.
A similar team turned up, but with a different attitude. They were unrecognisable from the guys performing badly at Edgbaston, so well done for taking the criticism on board, having a good look at themselves and turning their cricket around.
Now go and do the same at Lord’s and prove it was not a flash in the pan.
There are still some question marks over England’s batting. Tom Westley has played himself out of the next Test match and a trip to Australia through two poor shots.
In the second innings he wafted at a wide ball and I put that down to pressure. When you are struggling to cope with stressful situations, your mind makes bad decisions and that was an awful shot.
It is time for Alex Hales to come back and bat at No 3. Mark Stoneman has looked the best of all the newcomers England have tried this year. He played straight, caressing the ball rather than trying to whack it, which gives him a better chance of adjusting to any late new-ball swing or bounce.
In Australia, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will be a real handful on faster, bouncier pitches with the new ball in their hands.
I would suggest Stoneman gets a chest/rib pad for Australia. If the ball bounces on him when he is playing back defensively and is awkward to play around the rib area, he needs to be able to take it on his chest pad at the last moment rather than jab at the rising ball and give a catch to short leg or leg gully. I much preferred my chest pad to my helmet for that reason.
Dawid Malan did magnificently in the second innings. When he came to the crease he was under tremendous pressure. He had failed in the first innings. England were 94 for three and still 75 runs behind and he knew he had to score runs to save his Test career. He dug in with determination and a strong mind.
It was not pretty but he sealed one end and helped Root put on 118 runs. That partnership cleared the arrears and, by batting for five hours, Malan tired out the three West Indies seamers so, by the time he was out, the England middle order could plunder a tiring attack.
He deserves the next Test and an Australia trip. Chris Woakes’s batting at No 9 was sensational. But he is playing for England as a third seamer.
At his best I like Woakes as a major bowler and want him in the team, however the selectors have made a big mistake picking him here at Headingley. He was a shadow of his best. Down on pace, he looked military medium and swung the ball right from delivery so it was easy to see and play.
Woakes never looked as if he was ever going to get anybody out. The ball needs to leave his hand straight for half the length of the pitch, and then swing late. I believe he should go back to county cricket and bowl a lot of overs, build up his strength, pace and get back his late outswing.
— The Daily Telegraph
