West Indies’ management will agree with their frontline seamers to be sincere approximately their ability to receive through a third Test match against England in the space of as many weeks, but are self-assured that there are no major injury concerns heading into the last match of the series at Emirates Old Trafford.
While England opted to field a fully different seam attack in the second one Test, bringing in Stuart Broad, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes for James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, West Indies went in unchanged, and their bowlers toiled for 162 overs in the first innings.
Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph both left the field at more than a few points with niggles, but assistant coach Roddy Estwick said that there have been “no major injuries” to outline ahead of Friday’s decider.
“The object approximately our seam branch is that they are very experienced,” Estwick said. “We will agree with them. We will take a seat down with them and we’re going to have a discussion. They should have been pulling up reasonably mannered because Shannon was once in a position to enter the nets today and have a bowl. The rain curtailed that but I think they are going to be fine.
“We will try to receive them to stay off their feet and to receive the adequate rest and the remedy that they need, because come Friday there is no second-guessing. We’ve got to be in a position, and we will be able to’t have any excuses.
“Whether we had rested Shannon Gabriel for the (second) Test match after you have nine wickets (in the first) and had gone on to lose that Test, people would have been saying ‘Shannon got nine wickets, why did you rest him?’ It’s 20:20 vision, it’s hindsight. We will be able to’t retain taking a look back and saying ‘we must have done this or that’. Just because England have done it and it proved successful doesn’t intent that it would have worked for us.”
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Gabriel in specific looked stiff and sore at different points throughout the second one Test, struggling for rhythm in his first spell and leaving the field clutching his groin on the second one day. But Estwick said that his attitude to fitness had been impressive since his ankle injury final year, and backed him to receive through the last Test.
Shannon Gabriel went off with an injury in the second one Test Gareth Copley/Getty Images
“Obviously Shannon was once injured just before the lockdown in the region, but he was once ready to put some training in,” Estwick said. “Once I used to be ready to gauge from the 2km run and the time he did as soon as we arrived in England, I knew his fitness was once commendable.
“Shannon is a very hard-working individual. The key object for him is to rest and get well. It is a short turnaround, and he is the most important member for us. He is an experienced player now, and we’ve got to be sure that he gets the correct rest and gets his remedy in or whatever he needs to verify he is on the park on Friday.”
Estwick said that Joseph’s injury – he went off with pain in his correct elbow in the second one Test – would be monitored on a “day-by-day” basis.
“We realize the injury he had, but you have to see that he bowled in the second one innings on the final morning. He had a bowl and he looked reasonably mannered.
“The physio is going to retain us up to date, but again, we are going to agree with the players. You have to agree with them to sit down down and have an sincere discussion, find out where they are at and then come to a decision.”
The two back-up seamers in the 15-man squad are Chemar Holder and allrounder Raymon Reifer, but it’ll mannered be tempting for West Indies to pick out Rahkeem Cornwall, the offspinner, as a second spin option after Roston Chase’s success in the first Test. The selectors may yet add a batsman – either Joshua Da Silva or Shayne Moseley – to the squad from the reserves amid concerns over John Campbell and Shai Hope’s form, but no decision has been taken as yet.
Cornwall took a ten-wicket haul in his most recent Test appearance, against Afghanistan final November, and while Estwick pointed out that the conditions were very different, he said that Cornwall had looked good in training.
“We will take a look at it – he’s going to come under discussion, I’m certain. Rahkeem has been preparing mannered so whether he is provided the possibility, I’m certain he’s going to go mannered. We will try to verify we get the most efficient combination from those 15.”