The experts do get it right more often than not in the 21st century, whatever our leaders may say. As the forecasters said would be the case, there was no play at Old Trafford on Monday. So the series has yet to be decided but the strong expectation remains that, weather permitting, England will win it. They need eight more wickets in what is likely to be a maximum of 98 overs. Even Gordon Greenidge and the rest of the 1984 musketeers would struggle to knock off the 389 more runs West Indies require to win.
If England do prevail this will be the first time they have come back from 1-0 down in a three-match series since 2008 in New Zealand. One person who could produce chapter and verse on this is Stuart Broad, because he has that sort of memory and he was there on his second England tour alongside Jimmy Anderson. Both began that series as understudies. But against the odds England lost the first Test in Hamilton after which Michael Vaughan and Peter Moores took the decision to drop Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard and to replace them with the youngsters, whereupon England won the next two Tests in Wellington and Napier. Since then Broad and Anderson have become an ever-more classy double act, more Morecambe and Wise than Mike and Bernie Winters.
Now Broad and Anderson are the senior citizens but they are so much more durable than Harmison and Hoggard. They can be rotated but not dropped. Broad has been sensational in this game. So far his figures over two innings are 17-6-39-8, seven of those scalps coming from what was regarded as the less favoured Brian Statham End. Broad’s services were not required when play resumed on Sunday morning as West Indies sought to avoid the follow-on, but Joe Root will not make that mistake again on Tuesday.
Broad will be gliding towards the crease, his lucky bandana flapping in the breeze – he will have to keep wearing it after a haircut – in the knowledge that he requires just one more wicket to notch his 500th in Test cricket, a staggering achievement for any bowler, especially one who does not bowl at express pace and who, in his latter years, scarcely swings the ball against right-handed batsmen. Broad’s record is a triumph of will as well as skill.
The forecast is better; England’s bowlers have had a chance to recharge batteries – not that they have looked short of energy so far in this contest – and West Indies could be forgiven for having half an eye on their flight home. So the anticipation is that Broad will be a vital part of another comeback 12 years after his experiences on the north island of New Zealand – unless West Indies can deliver one last dramatic twist at the end of a series that has exceeded expectations despite only sporadic cooperation from the English weather.
