Former captain Nasser Hussain said England's swift victory over West Indies in the first Test at Lord's summed up the problems facing the longest format of the game. England defeated West Indies by an innings and 114 runs in the first hour of day three to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. While England had some red-ball preparation in the form of County Championship games, West Indies played just one red-ball game over three days against a First Class Counties XI in preparation.
Furthermore, the majority of the West Indies team have not played red-ball cricket since a stunning eight-run win over Australia in Brisbane in January. “Those two days for me summed up where we are in Test cricket. You talk about all the batting they could have had, but they're going into a white-ball sunset, you've got bowlers who haven't bowled, you've got inexperienced cricketers, and then you lose the toss and you've got the worst conditions, and everyone says 'Test cricket is dying'.”
“But when you prepare for a Test match like this, you get exactly what England get when they're away. It frustrates me because you have to give Test matches the preparation they deserve, which is very easy to say but very difficult to do in the modern era,” Hussain said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
There is curiosity about whether the second Test between England and West Indies at Trent Bridge will prove more competitive. “The other story is 'West Indies are in terminal decline' — England haven't won in the Caribbean for two decades and (West Indies) have the Richard Botham Trophy in their hands.”
“England travel to India or Australia and don't do particularly well, so it shouldn't just be a West Indies story. It just adds to the fact that Test match cricket is in a difficult position, and it's self-perpetuating.”
“If you don't look after it, teams turn up and they put in a performance like this and everyone says, 'I told you, Test match cricket is dying'. When I hear you talking to Jimmy Anderson after 188 Test matches on the podium, I'd like to think we'd try to look after Test match cricket.”
Former England captain Michael Atherton spoke at length about the passion with which Anderson spoke about his love for Test cricket following his retirement from international cricket at Lord's and how he will now take on the role of fast-bowling mentor for the red-ball team.
“Anderson said, 'Test cricket has literally made me the person I am.' So, all the lessons he's taken from Test cricket — the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows, coming back for that third period at six o'clock in the evening and having to dig deep within yourself.”
“All the things that have made him the mature person that he is, Test cricket has helped him. I wanted to ask him about it because it's a vulnerable time, he's moving into a mentoring role and you would hope, because there are young players coming through now who have to make career choices.”
“You wish Jimmy would say to them, ‘Sometimes the easiest choices aren't always the most rewarding or the most satisfying'…although everybody's got to pay the bills, you understand.”
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