England must learn from naive mistakes to prevent more frustration in West Indies finale

It is nine years since England drew successive Test matches, and longer still where such a double saw them as the dominant team.

A rare enough event, then, for the lack of victory to be seen as a failing and one the bowlers must take responsibility for, the batsman having supplied some hefty scoreboard pressure for once.

Joe Root’s conservative declaration in Barbados may have taken valuable time away from England’s winning objective but the Bridgetown pitch, so sleepy for most of the game, was worn enough for their bowlers to pose problems for West Indies’ batsmen, which they did but only sporadically.

So while batting until lunch on the final day did make winning more difficult, with just two sessions remaining, it was the lack of threat – specifically from Chris Woakes and Jack Leach, England’s new-ball bowler and spinner respectively – that was so disappointing for many.

Woakes (44 Tests) and Leach (21 Tests) are not greenhorns like Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood, England’s two debutants in Barbados. But they are products of a county system whereby bowlers, in particular, can become regimented in both thought and action.

A pitch that is five days old has vagaries of bounce and pace. For Woakes, that should have meant hammering the ball into the pitch on a good length in a direct line with middle and off stumps, something Mahmood did in a telling spell soon after that brought two quick wickets.

Instead, Woakes ran in as if on an Edgbaston green-top looking for swing and nip that just wasn’t there. It was naive, not just from him, but Root and the coaching staff as well given there appeared to be no instructions for him to change tack.

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