Five West Indies players to watch against England

Roston Chase

Spin-bowling all-rounder who has been outscored by only Kraigg Brathwaite over the 30 months since his Test debut. He disappointed on the tour of England in 2017, when he averaged 13.33 in six innings, but stood out in last year’s trip to India, where he averaged 46.25, scored a century – the only one in his last 30 Test innings – in Hyderabad and was his team’s most consistent player. “He’s a quality player,” says the former West Indies head coach, Stuart Law. “I think he understands spin. They face a lot of spin back in the Caribbean. He has a long reach and he’s a clean striker of the ball. He has worked hard against pace and it’s not a weakness any more, it has started becoming a strength.” The 26-year-old is increasingly unlikely to be seen with the ball in his hand, though: Chase bowled at least 30 overs in four of his first five Tests, but has not done so since Headingley in 2017 and these days rarely gets into double figures.

Shannon Gabriel

2018 was the most productive year of Gabriel’s career, featuring more wickets (37) at a considerably better average (19.54) than any previous 12 months, and career-best figures of eight for 62 against Sri Lanka in June. He took 13 wickets in that match, becoming the third West Indian – after Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh – to do so. He has always delivered raw pace but not always with the accuracy or consistency to trouble batsmen regularly. Over the last two years, however, there has been a change: between March 2013 and October 2016 he went 29 consecutive innings without taking more than two wickets but in 35 innings since he has done so 13 times and claimed four five-wicket hauls. A fit, firing and in-form Gabriel makes West Indies a different, considerably more dangerous proposition. The search continues for a long-term partner, though Kemar Roach’s return to form over the past couple of years has certainly helped.

Oshane Thomas

The last few years have been hard for West Indies, who have won only two series, in Zimbabwe and at home to Bangladesh, in the four years since England last visited. But there could be a brighter future ahead, and Thomas is one of the young players offering encouragement. He made his ODI debut only last October and is the very definition of a rough diamond, but he is tall, broad, offers genuine pace and already boasts enough skill to trouble such as Shikhar Dhawan – whom he bowled twice in two matches last year – and Virat Kohli. “The world is at his feet,” says Carlos Brathwaite, his T20 captain. “It’s for West Indies to help him become another Joel Garner or Michael Holding.” The 21-year-old is yet to play a Test and this series may be too soon for him but England will certainly come up against him in the shorter formats and he seems likely to make an impression.

Shimron Hetmyer

In 10 matches and two years since Hetmyer was given his Test debut as a 20-year-old he has yet to put together a run of consistent high-scoring, but he has displayed a predilection for brutal hitting and there have been impressive ODI displays, particularly against Bangladesh and India. He takes the same style into the Test game, and of those who scored at least 250 Test runs in 2018 his strike rate was by a margin the best in the world – he hit as many sixes in his five Tests (17) as the runner-up in that list, India’s Rishabh Pant, did in nine. As he hones his technique, improves his shot selection and accrues experience Hetmyer, who captained West Indies to victory in the Under-19 World Cup three years ago, might become a little less brutal but perhaps a bit more dangerous. “He’s one of those players who has a lot of potential, very aggressive with his stroke play,” says Curtley Ambrose. “What I think the coaches need to do is to educate him along the lines of just being a little more selective because he can’t attack every delivery.”

Shai Hope

Against England at Headingley in 2017 Hope scored 147 in the first innings and an unbeaten 118 in the second, swinging the match in his side’s favour and allowing them to level the series. It was, he said, “a stepping stone” on his team’s journey to being “back on top”, but it has turned out to be a long and not consistently enjoyable slog for both player and country. He has not scored another Test century in 26 innings since, in which time there have been only two 50s. In 2018 he averaged a meagre 20.23 in nine Tests. But he remains a danger, so long as he can eradicate his habit of surrendering his wicket cheaply, and his form in one-day cricket, where he has three centuries and a score of 95 (plus two ducks) in his last seven innings, suggests it would be foolish to take him lightly.