One of the most chaotic winters in the history of English cricket had threatened to seriously de-stabilise and badly damage the England side ahead of this summer’s Ashes series against Australia. A row between captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores ended with Pietersen’s resignation as captain, and Moores’ dismissal as coach. Andrew Strauss took over as captain, whilst Andy Flower was temporarily made coach for the tour of the West Indies, which ended in a Test series defeat, but a One Day series victory. Now, having been placed in charge permanently, Flower started his first home series, once again, against the West Indies. Both he and Andrew Strauss needed to lead by example to inspire England to some decent performances in preparation for this summer’s main event; The Ashes.

The opening test at Lords was to be a test of their credentials, a chance to put their winter troubles behind them. England batted first, and after a shaky start to the innings, a fine 143 from Ravi Bopara, along with a 63 from Graeme Swann, guided England to a first innings total of 377. A strong start in reply from the West Indies threatened to put the home side under severe pressure. However, a 5 wicket haul from debutant Graham Onions triggered a collapse in the West Indian batting order, as they were bowled out for just 152. Leading by 225, England enforced the follow on. To their credit, West Indies put up more of a fight this time round, with Brendan Nash making 81, and Denesh Ramdin doing his bit by adding 61. The West Indies were bowled out in the end for 256, a lead of only 31 runs, which England openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss easily polished off to wrap up a comfortable 10 wicket win.

The 2nd Test at Durham followed a similar pattern. England, like the previous test, batted first. Bopara made another century, whilst Alastair Cook top scored with 160. Wicketkeeper Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood both made half centuries while Kevin Pietersen fell narrowly short of his 50, getting out on 49 as England declared on a massive 569-6. West Indies fared a lot better than the opening Test, Ramdin once again reaching a half century, with Ramnaresh Sarwan scoring what proved to be the only century of the entire tour for the West Indies. Eventually, West Indies were bowled out for 310, with James Anderson the pick of the England bowlers, taking his first 5 wicket haul of the summer. 259 runs behind, the visitors again had to follow on, and second time round, they just crumbled. 4 more wickets from Anderson and 3 for Tim Bresnan helped bowl out West Indies for just 176, with Chris Gayle’s rapid half century and Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 47 the only real resistance offered as the visitors fell apart, crashing to a defeat by an innings and 83 runs.

A 2-0 Test series win showed good progress for England, as they brushed aside a poor West Indian team. Next, they headed for a 3 match One Day series, which was soon reduced to a 2 match series as the opening game at Headingley was abandoned due to heavy rain.

Instead, the series began at Bristol where the West Indies opened the batting. Once again, they were disappointing. Only Dwayne Bravo’s 50 was the only highlight of a terrible batting performance which saw them bowled out for a mere 160. In stark contrast, England’s batters looked far more assured and confident at the crease. Solid innings from Bopara, Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood saw England cruise to their 161 target to wrap up a straightforward 6 wicket win.

The final match of the series took place at Edgbaston, where the West Indians were looking to salvage something from this tour in which they had been so poor. They won the toss and put England into bat. Openers Strauss and Bopara set the foundations with fine innings, scoring 52 and 49 respectively. Then Owais Shah and Matt Prior impressively pushed England further. Shah played some impressive shots on the way to 75, whilst Prior looked in good touch and will have been disappointed to not get a century, but his innings of 87 helped his bid to become a regular in the One Day side as well as the Test side. The high quality individual efforts helped England post a massive 328 off their 50 overs. The West Indies reply was once more, very woeful. Chanderpaul’s 68 wasn’t all that great considering he reached it in 108 balls, far too slow for One Day cricket. The West Indies were bowled out for 270, with James Anderson again the pick of the England bowlers, taking 3 wickets. A 58 run victory secured a confidence boosting 2-0 series win.

After the turbulence of the winter, it was refreshing to see England making the headlines because of events on the cricket pitch. Despite the West Indies being limp, lifeless and lacklustre, England showed some impressive form and plenty of potential ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in June and the Ashes, which begin in July. Some promising individual performances in this series, in particular Ravi Bopara who seems to have solved the problematic Number 3 position in the Test side. Much tougher tests lie in wait for the improving England sides, who will have to raise their games once to compete with the Australians later this summer. England have moved on, stabilised since the winter, and now many people believe they have a realistic chance of winning back the Ashes later this summer.

By Chris Sykes