West Indies v England: third Test, day one – live! | Sport

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1.54pm GMT 13:54

“Not picking Parkinson is insane,” tweets @AndyinBrum, “and if I was him I’d tell them to go and shove it next time they ask him to tour, unless they’re going to guarantee he’ll play. What a nonsense.’

Elite sport is hard. But yeah, it’s hard to fathom a plan with him; surely this would’ve been a good series in which to give him a twirl? Seems unlikely he’s getting a go against New Zealand in May/June, and nothing about Joe Root’s captaincy suggests he’s tossing in an untried leggy against South Africa.

1.45pm GMT 13:45

Teams!

West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), 2 John Campbell, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Nkrumah Bonner, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Kyle Mayers, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Jayden Seales.

England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Joe Root (captain), 4 Dan Lawrence, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Craig Overton, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Saqib Mahmood.

1.43pm GMT 13:43

Email! “I suspect there’s a simple answer to your Fisher/Overton puzzlement,” writes Geoff Wignall. “As ‘being good in the dressing room’ appears to have become the primary criterion for selection (and for Root’s continuing captaincy), creating the opportunity to look at new players could mean exactly that: having a look at them. No need for them to leave the dressing room to achieve that.

Though more likely the thinking is that Overton offers a very marginally better chance of the win needed to leave Root securely set to reach 100 matches as captain.”

I find it hard to envisage a situation in which he’s the difference, but I’m regularly wrong; ‘being good in the dressing room’ has been important since they binned KP and arguably before.

1.40pm GMT 13:40

This is a big morning for Alex Lees, who’s done alright without making a serious score. One today will earn him the New Zealand series, at least, but this pitch looks like it might do more than the other two. Daunting.

1.36pm GMT 13:36

Nothing to do with cricket whatsoever, but this made me laugh.

Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant)

Thinking about the time a games mag, possibly PC Gamer, ran a competition asking readers to ‘scare us’ and someone sent in a load of telephoto lens shots of the team leaving the office. Dunno if they won but they should have.

March 24, 2022

1.35pm GMT 13:35

Ch ch changes: no debut for Philip after all, Kyle Mayers replacing Veerasammy Permaul, while England also make one change, Overton for Fisher.

1.34pm GMT 13:34

West Indies win the toss and will field!

It must’ve been a tricky call – big first-innings runs are helpful – but today will likely be the best day for bowling.

Updated at 1.34pm GMT

1.32pm GMT 13:32

We’re now taking a closer look at the pitch and there is indeed grass, along with some moisture! Let’s see. MA Butcher, meanwhile, is wearing loafers with bare feet. Still, he’ll always have that square-cut six against Australia in 2001.

1.27pm GMT 13:27

Love a debut. All that work, pain and suffering, then a moment. Beautiful.

Will Macpherson (@willis_macp)

The Windies huddle had a big round of applause a short while ago, so wonder if Anderson Philip, the right-arm seamer from Trinidad, is making his debut. Toss in five mins.

March 24, 2022

1.24pm GMT 13:24

Other hand, I enjoyed Saqib Mahmood’s performance in Barbados, and think he’s got a big future in the side because his kind of skiddy reverse is useful not just in England but the subcontinent too.

1.21pm GMT 13:21

If someone could please revelate me: what’s the point of leaving out Branderson to have a look at new players, to bin Fisher for Overton? Get it I do not.

1.14pm GMT 13:14

Mark Butcher confirms there are “thick patches” of grass on a length, and Daniel Harris confirms that there are mustard chinos on David Gower’s legs. Butcher adds that Kemar Roach was imploring the groundsman not to shave the pitch, so perhaps it’ll do something,

1.10pm GMT 13:10

Carlos Brathwaite has been told to “expect runs”, and his experience of watching and playing cricket in Grenada tells him that too. There’s a bit more grass on the pitch, he says, but thinks it’ll be flat. Thing is, flat tracks aren’t the problem – Test tracks should be flat – but they shouldn’t be dead. There needs to be pace for the best quicks, turn for the best spinners, and bounce for the best of both.

1.00pm GMT 13:00

Preamble

Don Draper didn’t teach us much – we were self-regarding, self-mythologizing bores long before we knew him – but his – well Teddy’s – vort that nostalgia “literally means ‘the pain from an old wound'” gives an interesting insight into contemporary Britain.

We’ve been deep in a nostalgia trap these last few years, people reminiscing fondly, not just about Mr Benn, the Smiths Crisps advert and white dog turds, but about poverty, racism and mortal danger they never actually experienced; a heady mix. And Test cricket is currently experiencing something similar, two three-match series locked at 0-0 with just the final encounter to go. Who doesn’t feel a twinge in their heart thinking about sport that is a million times more stultifying than the thrilling fare we’re used to nowadays?

Yeah yeah, alright, there’s not much of our to-do has in common with Pakistan v Australia – the action has been devastatingly slow for much of the piece and there’s no particular reason to think this won’t be more of the same. But it’s still worth our time, for the fascinating subplots and individual peaks we’ve enjoyed nevertheless, and because simply by existing, Test cricket allows us to travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.

Play: 10am local, 2pm GMT

Updated at 1.14pm GMT

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