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Hashim Amla is set to sign for Surrey as a Kolpak registration.Amla, the 36-year-old South African batsman who announced his retirement from international cricket in August, is understood by ESPNcricinfo to have agreed a two-year contract with the club.Surrey hope the deal is completed before the end of the week and well ahead of the end of the month when the the possibility of a no-deal Brexit could close the loophole on future Kolpak registrations in the county game.ESPNcricinfo understands Amla’s representative also held talks with Middlesex and Hampshire.While Surrey are likely to attract some criticism for signing a second Kolpak registration – Morne Morkel is already an integral part of their side – they will argue that they are trying to compensate for the loss of key players on international duty.Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Sam Curran could all be absent for long periods over the next few seasons, so Amla has been signed in the hope he will fulfil the sort of senior pro role played so successfully by Kumar Sangakkara in the last few years of his career.

Australia captain Aaron Finch has questioned the need for a 20-minute interval during the rain-ruined T20I against Pakistan at the SCG. The match was abandoned 11 balls before the second innings constituted a game, with Australia well ahead in the chase.Australia were 0 for 41 after 3.1 overs when rain returned and there was no chance for the match to resume before the cut-off time. Pakistan’s innings had been interrupted by a lengthy stoppage after 12.4 overs and then resumed for 14 deliveries before the standard break between innings was taken.”If you’re cutting overs off the game and you still have a 20-minute break, it doesn’t make much sense to me,” Finch said in his post-match TV interview. “When you lose a few overs and then you still have a 20-minute break… I thought that was really interesting. But it’s part of the rules and you can’t do much about it.”Getty Images

The ICC playing conditions give the match referee – in this case Javagal Srinath – the discretion to reduce the interval to 10 minutes but that was not exercised.Clause 11.4.2 of the playing conditions states: “… following a lengthy delay or interruption prior to the completion of the innings of the team batting first, the Match Referee may, at his discretion, reduce the interval between innings from 20 minutes to not less than 10 minutes.”Vice-captain Alex Carey said that Australia had approached the match officials about what the length of the interval would be and were told that standard break would remain.”We asked the question, what the changeover would have been, and it remains the same so we were aware of that and can’t change it,” Carey said. “The boys did a great job getting the start, just a shame it was probably five minutes too late.”It’s disappointing to be so close, but it’s part of the game. It’s one of things we can’t change. The spectators would have liked a result, but we understand it. Good or bad, it’s part of it.”Had there been time to resume the game for 11 more deliveries to make it a match, the five-over target would have been 39 so Australia were already ahead of that mark. Had the rain not arrived, Pakistan could have fought back with wickets but this was certainly a case of them escaping what was shaping up as a defeat following Finch’s onslaught against Mohammad Irfan – his second over cost 26.Other than captain Babar Azam they couldn’t find much impetus with the bat, although the stoppage after 12.4 overs worked against them as they had to restart for just 14 more deliveries.”If the match had continued for 20 overs, we should have come up with 160-170. It really effected our team plan,” Mohammad Rizwan said. “We lost early wickets but we had wickets in hand for the last few overs, then the rain came.”

Naseem Shah, the 16-year-old Pakistan fast bowler who made heads turn during the recent senior-team tour of Australia, is expected to return to the national Under-19 ranks and link up with the rest of the squad as they prepare for the Under-19 World Cup early next year in South Africa.”He is my main weapon and I need him there at the World Cup,” Ijaz Ahmed, the head coach of the Pakistan Under-19 team, told ESPNcricinfo. “He now has a taste of international cricket and now, at the home [Test] series against Sri Lanka, we are mainly banking on spinners. Pakistan have [Mohammad] Abbas and Shaheen [Afridi] to lead the fast-bowling attack according to the conditions.”I feel he [Shah] for now should only be used in conditions like in New Zealand, England, etc, when needed. For now, we have a very important event coming up in South Africa and he is very handy for me and I will ask Misbah [ul-Haq, the chief coach and selector] to release him.”Shah was named in the original World Cup squad, and ESPNcricinfo understands that he will be released to prepare and take part in the tournament.Shah, who has just seven first-class matches under his belt, made an impact during Pakistan’s two-Test series in Australia. He had been all the talk even before he landed in Australia, with footage of his exploits in a short domestic career going viral. He didn’t bowl in the first innings of the Pakistanis’ tour game against Australia A following the death of his mother, but impressed during an eight-over burst in the second innings, bowling with pace and picking up the wicket of Marcus Harris.He made his Test debut in the first game, in Brisbane, and sent back David Warner with a brute of a short ball that the batsman, then on 154, could only edge through to the wicketkeeper. Shah had found Warner’s edge earlier too, but was denied the wicket as he had overstepped. He was dropped for the second Test, in Adelaide.

Adelaide Strikers‘ Sophie Devine continued her scintillating form in the WBBL with an unbeaten 63, her third straight unbeaten half-century, fifth in a row and sixth this season, to make short work of the modest 113 chase against Sydney Thunder in Wollongong. With 475 runs, Devine is second on the run-scorers’ list, behind Brisbane Heat’s Beth Mooney. After opting to bat, Thunder saw only one of their batters strike at over 100 – captain Rachael Haynes struck 33 off 27 – as their top order could only take them to 2 for 72 after 15 overs. They managed only two more fours after that but relied on singles, doubles and a few extras to score 40 in the last five overs and post 4 for 112. Megan Schutt finished with an economical 4-0-15-0 and Devine struck once to end with 4-0-21-1. Devine then opened the batting with Suzie Bates for a stand of 53 in under 10 overs to set the tone for the chase. Thunder took three quick wickets – two of those by Nida Dar – but Devine’s blows and the modest total meant the Strikers were home with five balls to spare.Nicola Carey’s unbeaten 55 and Belinda Vakarewa’s four-for helped Hobart Hurricanes to their first win in eight games, and their third win this season, as Sydney Sixers lost by five wickets with 10 balls to spare at the North Sydney Oval. Having elected to bat first, Sixers had their top four batters dismissed cheaply within the first six overs by Vakarewa. Tayla Vlaeminck then dismissed Maddy Darke for a duck to leave Sixers reeling at 5 for 30. Marizanne Kapp fought back with an unbeaten 40-ball 55, helping the hosts past 100, making a 56-run stand with Lauren Smith (23 off 31 balls) and a 35-run stand with Dane Van Niekerk (17 off 9 balls). In the 134-run chase, Hurricanes’ top three batters fell early to Kapp and Stella Campbell. But Carey then took charge, playing cautiously as she brought up her half-century off 45 balls. Chloe Tryon joined Carey for a 48-run sixth-wicket stand, and with the requirement reduced to eight runs off 12 balls, Tryon hit two sixes in the 19th over to seal the chase for Hurricanes.Half-centuries from openers Amy Jones (70) and Meg Lanning (68*) headlined Perth Scorchers‘ 150 chase and helped them seal victory with nine wickets and five balls in hand against the Melbourne Stars at the Junction Oval. Scorchers are now placed fourth with 12 points, ahead of Melbourne Renegades who lost to Brisbane Heat in the first match of the day. Jones and Lanning nearly earned a 10-wicket win but their stand of 147 came to an end when Jones edged one to wicketkeeper Elyse Villani for her 70 off 55 balls with nine fours. Natalie Sciver hit the winning runs on the next ball, with Lanning unbeaten on 68 off 59. Earlier, the Stars saw a half-century opening partnership between Villani (59) and Lizelle Lee (24). No. 3 Mignon du Preez also chipped in with 38 off 22 to take them past 100 but their middle order couldn’t capitalise on the start to help them past 150. Medium-pacer Samantha Betts dismissed Lee, du Preez and Annabel Sutherland to finish with 3 for 21.Getty Images

Jess Jonassen’s sparkling 63 not-out off 29 balls extended Brisbane Heat‘s lead at the top of the WBBL table with a six-run win against the Melbourne Renegades at the Junction Oval. Renegades gave the visitors a scare as they needed 21 from 12 balls, and later 15 off the last over, but they lost three wickets in the last four balls, including two run-outs, and fell short to remain on ten points. Heat got a stable start courtesy of opener Maddy Green’s 32 off 31 before Jonassen walked out at the halfway mark, at 57 for 2. Wickets fell around her but Jonassen propelled the run rate from under six to over 7.5 per over by smashing six fours and three sixes. Heat collected 42 off the last three overs, with five fours and two sixes from Jonassen alone to post a strong 5 for 153. Renegades got a promising start with Danni Wyatt’s 40 off 18, but once she holed out to deep midwicket off Amelia Kerr in the eighth over, the hosts found it tough to stay on top of the chase, with only two more batters able to score at more than run a ball. Jonassen finished with 1 for 27 from her four overs to be named the Player of the Match.

India rode a rapid 97-run opening partnership, and a blistering finish from Manish Pandey and Shardul Thakur, to a total of 201 for 6. Then their bowlers scythed through Sri Lanka’s top order, removing four batsmen inside the Powerplay, allowing Sri Lanka no more than 35 runs during the field restrictions, to derail their daunting chase.There was a half-decent 31 from Angelo Mathews and an excellent 57 off 36 balls – the highest individual score in the game – from Dhananjaya de Silva. Left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan also took 3 for 35 from his four overs. India also had outstanding personal contributions – Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul making half-centuries, while Navdeep Saini finished with 3 for 28, the second time in as many matches that he has impressed. More than their individual performances, however, India ensured there were few weak performances across their XI. They won by a whopping 78, bowling Sri Lanka out in the 16th over.India’s scorching startThirty runs apiece for each of India’s batsmen in the Powerplay. Sixty-three overall for India. Rahul and Dhawan didn’t stop there though. They stuck together for several more overs – their partnership worth 97 off 65 balls. It set the tone for yet another match that India would dominate – the hosts’ total almost certain to breach 170 after that stand.It was Rahul who looked menacing first, stroking Lasith Malinga through point in the first over, before hitting Mathews [playing his first T20 international since mid-2018] for successive boundaries in the next over. Dhawan had a nervous start. He could have been caught on 1 off the bowling of Mathews, had Dasun Shanaka judged the chance better at deep square leg.By the end of the Powerplay, though, both batsmen were striking serenely – Dhawan helping short-ish fast deliveries past third man, while Rahul was languidly launching de Silva’s offspin over long leg. Rahul made 54 off 36, and Dhawan 52 off 36. The pair had given India such a mighty platform, Virat Kohli even mixed up the batting order, and let Sanju Samson, Pandey and Shreyas Iyer all bat ahead of him.The finishing fireworksWhen Sri Lanka claimed wickets in quick succession through the middle overs, it felt like perhaps they could restrict India to the vicinity of 180. At the end of the 18th over, India were 167 for 6. Pandey had been batting nicely for several overs, but it was Thakur who really got the death-overs party started. He bludgeoned Malinga for six off the second ball he faced, then next over smoked Lahiru Kumara over the straight boundary, and then cracked him serenely over extra cover. Pandey hit two fours of his own through this period. Together, they put on 37 off 15 balls, and turned an imposing total into a gigantic one.India blast out Sri Lanka’s top orderIt was pretty much over by the time the Powerplay ended. Danushka Gunathilaka tried to pull Jasprit Bumrah from a terrible position, and spooned a catch to mid-on. Avishka Fernando struck a gorgeous six over midwicket off Thakur, but then sliced one straight to point next ball. Oshada Fernando was run out due to a mix-up, and Kusal Perera backed away and was bowled by Saini in the sixth over. With no batsmen in form, it was almost impossible to see Sri Lanka coming back from 26 for 4. Mathews and Dhananjaya staged a 72-run fifth-wicket partnership, but the stand needed to be pretty much twice that size for the visitors to have a chance.Bright spots for Sri LankaIn some India v Sri Lanka matches, there are zero positives for Sri Lanka, so casually do India put this opposition away. At least this time, there was some hope for Sri Lanka to hold on to. With Wanindu Hasaranga having done well in the first T20, Sandakan also proved a wicket-taking threat in this game, taking 3 for 35. It was Sandakan who claimed the wickets of both openers, as well as Iyer.On the batting front, Dhananjaya looked assured as he smote eight boundaries and a six. As ever, with Dhananjaya, he relied heavily on his timing than power. If Dhananajay, who is a decent ODI and Test bowler, can develop his T20 bowling as well, perhaps he becomes an excellent option for Sri Lanka. The issue, though, is that although players can shine on certain tours, very few perform consistently for Sri Lanka.

The celebrations haven’t stopped
Small town Bangladesh is where it’s really at. In Narail, at medium-pacer Avishek Das’ home, his father is organising a special prayer meeting.”I never dreamt that my son will play the Under-19 World Cup. I didn’t even expect Aronno [Das’ nickname] to go through the trial in Khulna Stadium a few years ago but when he got the chance to play in Dhaka in the training camp, I started to believe that he may end up doing something,” Asit Das, the proud father, told . “I will do a after Avishek returns home, to thank god for Aronno’s success. We wish that Aronno can emulate Mashrafe [Mortaza], and one day make Narail and Bangladesh proud again.”Up north, guests and well-wishers haven’t stopped pouring into pace bowler Shoriful Islam’s house in Moumari village of Panchagarh district. They have even received congratulatory messages from government officials, including the country’s railway minister.”Missing school didn’t go to waste for my son. He was obsessed with cricket,” Bulbuli Begum, Shoriful’s mother, was quoted as saying by .Celebrations are also on in Mymensingh, where left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan, who struck the winning run in the final, is from. Rakibul’s mother, Romela Begum, couldn’t stop her tears when he was in the middle, and then when he finished the job off, and since then it has been a whirl of entertaining visitors – local political leaders and government officials have also dropped in at their relatives’ houses, reported.What was Shoriful’s routine about?
Warming up ahead of Sunday’s final, Shoriful told fielding coach Faisal Hossain that he would unveil a new celebratory jig if and when he picked up a wicket. “Shoriful said that he will would the batsman’s name, put it in his pocket, zip it, and then do a salute. I told him that this is a final, not a group match, keep that in mind,” Faisal told .Shoriful got two chances, and went ahead and performed the routine, which piqued interest among cricket fans in Bangladesh.U-19 World Cup champions Bangladesh acknowledge their fans in Potchefstroom•ICC via Getty

Winning in South Africa made it even sweeter
Bangladesh Under-19 coach Navid Nawaz has said that winning the World Cup in South Africa has given him more satisfaction than might have been the case had it been in the subcontinent. Nawaz, who took over the job in 2018, has been instrumental in the side’s progress during this period, in which they also dominated New Zealand and England in their backyards.”For me as a coach, it is not just winning the World Cup, but winning it in South Africa which has made me most proud,” Nawaz told . “It is the biggest achievement. It wouldn’t have been this surprising if we had won the World Cup in the subcontinent. For the batsmen especially, it is tough to play in South Africa. We were helped by the two series in England and New Zealand, where we played in bouncy wickets. We also came to South Africa to adapt to the weather. I don’t remember anyone in the team saying they were having trouble adjusting to South African conditions.”The boys are the toast of the town at the moment, but Nawaz stressed that it should be understood that the youngsters could not be expected to be of international standard overnight. “There is a huge difference between an Under-19 cricketer and an international cricketer,” he said. “We prepared them to meet the demands of Under-19 cricket. But I believe with more training and fitness, they will soon become of international standard. They have the mental and cricketing ability to reach that level.”Mahmud’s helping hand
Former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud has been hailed by many for his influential role as the BCB’s head of development. BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that the board will reward Mahmud upon his return.Mahmud, for his part, is trying to get the world champions clubs in the Dhaka Premier League for the upcoming season. “After coming to South Africa, I heard that some of the Under-19 players didn’t get a DPL team. I took it upon myself to find them clubs. I want them to do well in club cricket, and earn some money too,” Mahmud told .With love from Rawalpindi
After the high of Potechefstroom, there was also the low of Rawalpindi, where the senior team went down to Pakistan by an innings. After the game, Test captain Mominul Haque was congratulated several times during the press conference, and he said that they could learn a thing or two from their juniors.”If you want to learn something, you can learn from your juniors and from everywhere,” he said. “They can give us some information on how to do a good result. They did really well in the Under-19 World Cup. I have to congratulate them.”

If Wanindu Hasaranga kept his nerve in the frenzied finish, it’s because he’s been a similar situation before. If he batted cleverly with the tail, and measured the last Sri Lanka push to perfection, it’s because memories of triumphing in arguably tougher circumstances are fresh.

Kieron Pollard on:

The 26 extras West Indies conceded: In international cricket you’ve got to be consistent. And 14 wides in an international game – that’s two overs and a bit of extra runs and extra deliveries. We gave Sri Lanka 52 overs to chase the target. Even in the practice games we were pretty high on the extras. Our discipline was off, and hopefully the guys can take a look at that and have a better showing come the next game.
On WI’s batting: That was the highest score in this ground out here. I thought we batted well. Shai [Hope] playing his role tremendously well [to score a hundred], and young [Darren] Bravo coming back into the set up and getting a start. Roston Chase getting a start as well. I thought what let us down was wickets in the middle. A couple of run outs and [Nicholas] Pooran and myself getting out to soft dismissals. That’s what stopped us getting to 300, 320 plus.

Sri Lanka needed 28 off 27 balls, with only two wickets in hand, when Hasaranga had to really take control of the chase against West Indies. In the end, his 42 not out off 39 balls took Sri Lanka home with one wicket and five balls to spare. Just a month ago, however, Hasaranga had produced a similarly impressive knock, on the same ground, in the final of Sri Lanka’s club T20 competition. On that occasion, his 60 not out off 34 balls, had occasioned a last-ball victory for Colombo Cricket Club.It was that experience, that birthed this cameo.”I was able to finish a match like this today because the T20 club final innings that I had played,” Hasaranga said. “Also in the practice matches I’d played well from lower in the order. That’s where I will bat in the national team, so even in the club matches I made sure to bat Nos. 6, 7 and 8. Yes, they were club matches, but it did have an effect on my mind. I had the confidence that I can play these kinds of innings. As far as I know, someone who can finish matches is the kind of player who can have a long career. I wanted to be someone who could do that for the team.”Hasaranga had initially played a supporting innings to Thisara Perera, who made 32 off 22 to get Sri Lanka’s requirement down to significantly less than a run-a-ball. Hasaranga revealed, however, that during that partnership with Thisara, Sri Lanka had one eye on the Duckworth-Lewis par score, as the skies had darkened at the time. This would explain Thisara holing out in his attempts to hit a six, even when Sri Lanka needed only 37 off 45.”When I went to bat we still had 75 to get. Thisara was batting at the time – he had 10 or 15 at the time. He can play the big shots any time. I managed to get a four and a six early on, without too much effort. So I tried to support Thisara when he was batting. I tried to stay in the wicket until it was necessary for me to take a risk.”When Thisara and I were batting, it also looked like there was a bit of rain in the air. We wondered if the match would stop for bad light or whatever. It was almost 5.30 at the time. But we wanted to be 10 runs in front of the Duckworth-Lewis par score. We didn’t want to throw wickets away. It was because we had tried to get ahead of the rate at that time that I was able to take my time and finish like I did.”On Friday, on the eve of the match, new coach Mickey Arthur had been glowing in his appraisal of Hasaranga’s all-round ability, marveling at the control in his legbreaks, as well as the energy and efficiency he brought to his batting and fielding. After playing his match-winning innings, Hasaranga touched on the confidence Arthur’s words had prompted.”The coach is constantly talking to me about things that are expected of me and what I can do for the team – bowl dots in the middle overs and get wickets, do well in the field, and finish a match when we get to situations like this. What he’s told me is that I’m a player who can do all of that.”

West Indies’ cricketers will only tour England for their postponed Test series in July if they are “100% sure” they are not putting their health at risk, according to the CWI chief executive, Johnny Grave.Speaking on Sky Sports after it was confirmed that England’s players plan to begin their own phased return to training on Monday, Grave admitted that the UK’s death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic, already in excess of 30,000, has caused some alarm in the Caribbean.”There are relatively few cases here in the Caribbean, therefore, we’re all relatively safe from a coronavirus point of view,” he said. “Just in terms of sheer numbers of deaths in the UK, obviously over 30,000 people is an enormous number but in population terms here in the Caribbean for people who are based and who have lived most of their lives on the smaller islands, you are talking about 40-50 per cent of the total populations.”It is a very different mindset here in terms of going to what is seen as one of the eyes of the storm of this virus. So we’re going to have to be very, very careful that first up we take the medical advice that the ECB give us and secondly that we’re 100 per cent sure that we’re not putting any player’s health at risk before we can contemplate the tour taking place.ALSO READ: England face Ben Stokes dilemma in event of split squads“We’ve had, as you can imagine, lots of conversations individually and – as of the start of this month – we started really a much wider discussion with the ECB over what a tour might look like,” he added.”Certainly, from our point of view, it’s really just listening to those ECB plans both from Steve Elworthy [Director of Special Projects], from a logistics and venue point of view, and professor Nick Peirce [Chief Medical Officer] from a medical point of view.”So, we’re in good dialogue with the ECB and ultimately we’re waiting to hear from them and clearly they need to get UK Government approval before we can seriously contemplate a tour to the UK.”Ashley Giles, England’s team director, admitted that he could understand West Indies’ concerns, but remained confident that the tour would go ahead as planned.”I would be nervous, certainly, but I think we are all nervous, aren’t we? Clearly being outside and looking in, as with any scenario, it can be quite scary but we are doing everything we possibly can to answer all of the West Indies’ questions and we will be speaking to Pakistan as well and mitigate as much risk as we possibly can. We can’t mitigate all risk but as much as possible to get guys comfortable.”We have to remain confident. A big part of my job is trying to get cricket on but it has to be safe and it has to be right. We would never compromise the safety of our players and our people. Right now I am confident. We hope we don’t take another dip which would put all of us back, [but] if we continue on this trajectory hopefully we will have the right conditions to play some Test cricket.”A significant hurdle for CWI will be the assembling of their squad ahead of the trip to England, with all internal flights in the Caribbean currently suspended.”At the moment there’s no regional travel between the main airlines so first up we need to think through where the pool of players would come from across the Caribbean,” said Grave.”We’d expect at least seven or eight countries to make up the Test squad. I don’t think commercial flying is going to be appropriate here from the medical advice that we’ve been getting so we’re looking at chartering planes within the Caribbean and then ultimately a trans-Atlantic charter to get over to England.”

Twenty-four hours after the postponement of their home series against New Zealand, Bangladesh have deferred their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. The teams were scheduled to play three Tests in the July-August period.The BCB informed SLC of its unpreparedness on Wednesday, which means both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will remain out of action due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The BCB hasn’t yet commenced any form of training of its cricketers with the Shere Bangla National Stadium, cricket’s headquarters in the country, well within a virus “red zone”. Bangladesh’s count of those infected by the virus has crossed the 100,000 mark, with 1,502 officially counted dead as of June 23. Earlier this week, cricketers Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Islam, as well as former batsman Nafees Iqbal. tested Covid positive.So far, this is Bangladesh’s fifth postponement since March, following the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi (April), the tour of the UK and Ireland (May), and the home series against Australia (June) and New Zealand (August-September).Sri Lanka is in a better situation than Bangladesh in terms of numbers of Covid-18=9 cases and deaths, but it has also had its share of postponements. Apart from the England team returning home from Sri Lanka after two practice matches, South Africa and India have also postponed tours of the island.

For years, whenever England have struggled in the field, the call has been for pace. Whether struggling for penetration at Chennai or Lord’s or Adelaide, the suggestion has always been that, with a bit more pace, England would be able to extract more life from the surface and have the ingredient their attack has been lacking.Well, here they had plenty of pace. Indeed, Mark Wood produced what is thought to be the quickest display of bowling by an England player across an innings at home in the past 15 years. And what did it earn him? One tailend wicket for 74 runs.He wasn’t alone, either. Jofra Archer, we know, can bowl as fast as anyone. And while here he tended to concentrate on control – this surface hasn’t offered a great deal of help for pace – there were still some quick deliveries across his 22 overs. He finished wicketless.It was telling that Ben Stokes, like so many England captains before him, relied on James Anderson to deliver the most overs. Anderson is 37 now and generally operates at a speed just above 80 mph. But, such is his control and skill, he remains the most dangerous bowler more often than not. And while he was not, by his high standards, quite at his best, he still delivered 11 maidens in his 25 overs. England’s three other seamers delivered 10 between them.It’s no coincidence that the most successful bowler in the match to date, Jason Holder, operates at a similar pace to Anderson. He derived his success by pitching the ball a bit fuller than the England bowlers and extracting movement – especially swing – that the hosts could not replicate.But England have longed for this pace. For years they have been on the wrong end of attacks containing quality fast bowlers. Now, at last, they have some firepower of their own and they couldn’t resist the temptation to play them. They were like the man taking his new sports car out in the snow; or desperate to use his new skis in mid-summer. They haven’t exactly picked the wrong attack. But they might have picked the wrong attack for the conditions.James Anderson appeals for the wicket of Roston Chase•Getty Images

England’s hearts probably sank when they opened their curtains on Friday morning. After batting in grim, overcast conditions, they were greeted by the sort of bright, sunny morning that suggested batting could be easier. But that is the risk you take when you choose to bat first in the gloom and England would have hoped to have an attack to cope with most conditions.As it transpired, it looked just a little ill-balanced. Another old-school England seamer – the likes of Matthew Hoggard, perhaps, or even Chris Rushworth or Alan Richardson – might have proved the perfect foil to Anderson. It’s surely too early to jump to conclusions but maybe, just as England’s football team rarely found a way to accommodate Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the same side, their cricket team might find the best use of Wood and Archer is by rotating them?There will be those who suggest Stuart Broad would have made all the difference. And it is true that Broad, at this stage of his career, with his determination to make batsmen play, might have been well-suited to this surface. But we have to be careful not to make the same mistake we have with pace: presume that quick and easy solutions would make all the difference. Broad has, no doubt, had a magnificent career. But in his most recent 28 home Tests – that’s a period going back almost five years – he has taken only one five-wicket haul.ALSO READ: Broad ‘frustrated’ and ‘angry’ at Test omissionEngland also have to be careful not to over compensate in Manchester. If conditions there look as if they may favour pace above seam – and they may well – it will probably pay to stick with these bowlers. Their fault may have been playing an attack ideally suited for Brisbane in Southampton.There are other options within the England squad, too. For all Broad’s virtues, he is another right-arm fast medium bowler. Sam Curran, with his left-arm angle and ability to swing the ball, might offer more variation. You could, at a push, even make a case for playing him in place of one of the batsmen. His Test batting average (27.34) is only about two below that of Joe Denly (29.55).But whoever plays, whatever their pace, they have to bowl with more accuracy than England managed here. It wasn’t that they were awful, by any means. But compared to the West Indies’ bowlers, they were just a little short, just a little leg side and just a little unable to build or sustain pressure.”Obviously you need control,” Anderson said. “We saw West Indies bowl well. They had a couple of bowlers who offered control in Holder and Roach and that gave the quicker guys the freedom to bowl fast. You need a balance.”In many ways, Wood’s performance was admirable. His pace hardly dropped in his 22 overs. Right to the end, he was passing 90 mph regularly. But by bowling too short, he failed to generate the movement that proved so dangerous for Holder. On a different surface – maybe the surface in Manchester; maybe even the fourth-innings surface here – Wood will be a huge asset.Archer, too, was only slightly off his game. He squandered one wicket through overstepping – an infuriating waste, really – and also strayed on to the batsmen’s legs more often than he will like. But his real issue was struggling to generate the movement that might have been expected of him.And, while England may feel they allowed West Indies to get a few above par, it probably was only a few. England’s first innings score of 204 has, not for the first time, asked a little too much of their bowlers. In both innings, a score of around 250 might be considered par.In truth, West Indies have so far batted and bowled better than England. Kraigg Brathwaite played later and straighter than England’s top order while Shane Dowrich, despite never looking comfortable against the short ball, battled hard in contributing a vital half-century. The discipline and skill with which they evaded the short ball has perhaps made England’s bowling effort seem rather less good than it was.So this was a slightly dispiriting start to life with Wood and Archer in tandem. But there will be other surfaces, many of them, when the pair are the perfect solution. But just because you’ve bought a fine new hat, it doesn’t mean you need to wear it in the shower.