“Scatter,” you imagine Ben Stokes told his fielders, dispersing like birds fleeing a burning sky. Shamar Joseph, West Indies’s number 11, survived the last ball of Chris Woakes’s over, to leave Joshua Da Silva on strike against Mark Wood. Now, eight men went to the boundary, leaving only Zak Crawley, at slip, within 50 metres of the bat.
Da Silva must have felt rather flattered. He is a resolute and tenacious wicketkeeper-batsman, as England learned when he scored a series-clinching century in Grenada two years ago. But Da Silva also came into this Test with a batting average of 25; his strike rate, 38, reflects an approach more doughty than dashing. When the ninth wicket fell, he had added 12 runs in more than an hour’s morning play, fortunate that Woakes narrowly evaded his edge on several occasions.
And so began a familiar English tale: of the tail that they couldn’t cut off. After taking 4-35 in 70 minutes of terrific, classical swing and seam bowling, England threw away their template, as if believing that what had got West Indies nine wickets down would not suffice to get the final wicket. Rapidly, England’s control gave way to chaos.
First, Da Silva was treated like he was Virat Kohli. Then, he started to bat like him, too: the extra cover drive for six off Mark Wood to reach his half-century evoked the cocktail of finesse and power that characterises Kohli at his best. When Joe Root was summoned, bowling on leg stump from around the wicket with the field up, Da Silva pummelled 18 in four balls, culminating in a six over long on.
England’s fielders patrolled the ropes at the start of each over to Da Silva, treating him with reverence out of what all proportion to what his solid record commands. And yet they couldn’t even follow through on their own dubious logic. When bowling to anyone in this way, a central tenet is to keep them off strike for the start of the next over. Instead, the very first full over to the 10th wicket pair ended with Da Silva cutting Wood to point for a risk-free single.
With England scarcely even feigning interest in dismissing Da Silva, West Indies’ wicketkeeper could cast away his earlier anxieties. Twice he faced an over of Wood, playing out five dot balls unencumbered by close catchers alongside thrashing a six.
The four wickets earlier in the day were all through bowling on a good length, yet England abandoned the tactic not just for Da Silva but also for the number 11 too. As Gus Atkinson went short, Joseph responded with two pristine pull shots for six. Only after Wood returned to a fuller length did the 10th wicket partnership end; the stand of 71 in 78 balls turned a West Indies deficit of 30 into a lead of 41.
It continued an unwelcome trend. Since May 2022, when Stokes assumed the captaincy, on average Test teams add 52 for the last three wickets. Against England, they add 56–- the third worst of the nine sides in the World Test Championship.
Such travails against the tail are nothing new. From 2012-14, England conceded century stands against a tenth wicket pair in three consecutive years. England’s generally excellent side in this era was founded on maintaining a sense of control, a philosophy that could leave them bereft against a last-wicket pair with an anarchic streak.
Since Stokes took over as captain, one answer to this English disease has been greater use of bouncers. The rationale is that lower order batsmen might be good – or lucky – enough to survive a few well-directed bouncers, but lack the technique to withstand several overs of short balls. In theory, bowling short to the tail prioritises taking wickets over saving runs. Yet the flourishes from Joseph were far from the first time that bouncers have cost England too much control.
Two years ago, Stuart Broad haemorrhaged 35 runs in one over to Jasprit Bumrah. At Trent Bridge, the telegraphed plan to Joseph allowed him to ready himself for bouncers; England scarcely used their white-ball skills – slower balls, cutters, or yorkers. Meanwhile, the tactics to Da Silva were the antithesis to the aggression that normally characterises England.
But the greatest reason for England’s toils perhaps lies less in tactics than personnel. With Bumrah alongside Ravichandran Ashwin, India are the world’s most brutal lower-order destroyers. Besides Bumrah deploying his yorker more, neither men deviate from their orthodox method when bowling to lower-order players.
Bumrah and Ashwin are a reminder of an eternal truth: rapid pace and high-quality spin is the classic combination to dismiss a tail. English cricket’s curse is that the country’s conditions and culture have never been conducive to producing such players.
More than ever, the England Test team are now bypassing the domestic game: Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir have been elevated despite modest first-class records. Their attributes should mean that, when confronted by stubborn tails, England have a more coherent plan. But, on the evidence of Trent Bridge, not just yet.
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