Joe Root’s tenure as captain, which new faces shone and is Saqib Mahmood James Anderson’s heir – five talking points from England’s Test series defeat by West Indies

England’s form in the Test-match arena continues to falter after losing their series to the West Indies 1-0, courtesy of 10-wicket defeat in the final encounter in Grenada.

Both sides were looking to take the series spoils following two five-day draws in Antigua and Barbados on slow and flat pitches.

Kraigg Brathwaite’s side would clinch the inaugural Richards-Botham trophy following an impressive display on days three and four, which led them to victory.

Trinidadian wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva, more on him a bit later, who brought up his maiden Test ton, formed two important partnerships with Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph.

This very individual performance earned the 23-year-old Player of the Match honours, much to his delight of course.

The West Indies skipper Brathwaite would also be awarded Player of the Series, having scored 341 runs at an average of 85.25 with one hundred and two fifties.

However, this game would really be one for the bowlers as you’ll come to realise reading this.

Here are TIBS News’ five biggest talking points from the final Test in Grenada.

Is it time for Joe Root’s tenure as England captain to end?

Following the woes of the recent Ashes series, Joe Root’s captaincy came into question from every possible direction.

Not much has changed in the way of results especially since the apparent ‘red-ball reset’, so understandably fans and experts alike are questioning whether or not he’s right for the role.

Post the defeat in Grenada, Root said he had no intention of stepping down as captain and chose to see the positives from the series.

The Yorkshireman said: ‘I’m very passionate about being the man to take this team forward, I know this is a results-based business but it does not feel like we are far away. The best thing on this trip has been the attitude of this group. We’re doing a lot of things well, we can’t let Sunday’s performance overshadow the great things that have happened on this tour.’

While Root’s passion is there for all to see, you’d think a change of guard might be the answer.

However, England have won just one of their last 17 Test matches and have lost five consecutive series.

It does beg the question who else could possibly take up the job?

Would the responsibility automatically be placed upon his vice-captain and superstar all-rounder Ben Stokes, or could a returning Stuart Broad take up the mantle in the summer?

Whoever the eventual director and head coach of the team will be, you feel that one of the first points to be reviewed will be the captaincy.

Which of England’s new faces will remain as part of the team going forward?

A lot of newer faces got their first taste of representing England. While the likes of Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence and Ben Foakes all made returns, we also saw some debuts in the Caribbean as well.

Alex Lees, Durham’s opening batter, came in for the likes of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed tried to make a mark on this team.

What Hameed does do is face a lot of deliveries, but the next step will be knowing when to accelerate to up the ante as his strike rate was almost Dom Sibley-like. It remains to be seen whether he’ll feature in the home fixtures this summer.

Dan Lawrence (despite having a poor game in Grenada) was an amazing batter to watch this series in Antigua and Barbados.

Despite playing with the utmost selflessness at times, he also knew when to play with freedom and showed he’s capable of playing all kinds of strokes.

Tasked with coming in at No 4 after captain Root promoted himself to No 3, the Essex man proved why he should be a regular in this team and stamped his authority.

The pitch and batting collapses – a bit more life in these roads!

While this pitch wasn’t exactly the quickest, there was more in it for the bowlers compared to the previous two matches this series.

There was a tiny bit of grass and the pitch didn’t appear to be as flat. However, the bounce was still varied and some balls kept quite low.

When West Indies won the toss and inserted their opposition to face up to their bowling attack, little did we know what would happen next.

There was a lot of move laterally early on as there often is with the Dukes ball in the Caribbean, but also off the seam and the track itself.

This allowed the likes of Kemar Roach, Jason Holder, Jayden Seales and Kyle Mayers to use these conditions to their advantage and it evidently reaped rewards.

England collapsed to 114-9 before Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood would form a partnership worth an entertaining 90 runs. Some of the dismissals had an element of seam movement – for example, Root being dismissed by Kyle Mayers nipping away off the seam, catching the outside edge and out for a nine-ball duck. 

Mayers would then prove to be big trouble in England’s second innings as well, finishing with figures of 5-18 in 17 overs. He was definitely the pick of their bowlers!

However, West Indies also had a collapse of sorts in their first innings before Da Silva’s magnificent hundred – and he had help from the tail in Roach, Joseph and Jayden Seales.

Speaking of Da Silva…

Joshua Da Silva – has he finally cracked Test cricket?

Da Silva’s performance was outstanding in this match and he really has come a long way in a short period of time.

Almost five years ago in 2017, when he was just 18-years-old, he was playing for an English cricket club Old Wimbledonians in Division 3 of the Surrey Championship finding himself as a player through the game.

Granted he averaged 85 with the bat that season, but he still wasn’t thought of as a potential international Test cricketer at that point.

Speaking on how his maiden century made him feel, he talked about how much the things have gone through have impacted him.

‘I think the emotion said it all, tears just came to my eyes instantaneously. It means the whole world – thank you to everyone who supported me,’ he told the home broadcaster following the match.

‘My parents have always backed me 100 per cent, through all the downs and all of the ups they have always been there. They were in Barbados and I couldn’t do it there but I’m sure they’re very happy to watch me on TV and see me do it here.’

Whatever comes next for Da Silva, you can see he has the right attitude and a real humbleness about him that will stand him in good stead going forward.

Saqib Mahmood – the heir to James Anderson’s throne?

Despite the perplexing decision to hand Craig Overton the new ball in West Indies’ first innings, Root handed it to the young Lancashire quick in the second.

While the target they were chasing to win was only 28, you feel that Mahmood could be a potentially dangerous option with the new ball in the future going forward, especially since he’s capable of bowling speeds up to the high 80mphs.

He also showed he’s capable of getting conventional out-swing and in-swing, as well as reverse, with the older ball.

The 25-year-old was good this series, taking six wickets at an average of just under 23 – which after playing two Tests is a decent effort.

Last summer, he showed what he could do with a brand-new white ball so why not try the same with the red ball in the future?

Speaking of the future, James Anderson isn’t going to be around forever so maybe his Lancashire team-mate is the answer to who will be taking the new ball once the 39-year-old legendary seamer retires.

By Liam Warren