Watch day five of the third #raisethebat Test between England and West Indies, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am on Tuesday
Monday 27 July 2020 17:28, UK
England need eight West Indies wickets on the final day of the third #raisethebat Test to clinch a 2-1 series win. Arguably, they have their best-ever bowling attack to get the job done.
James Anderson is England's leading Test wicket-taker of all time, with 589, while Stuart Broad's brilliant four-wicket burst on day three at Emirates Old Trafford - earning him an 18th Test five-for - and two strikes late on took him to 499, just one shy of that magic 500 mark.
The pair have long been touted as England's best-ever opening partnership and yet, backing them up, Chris Woakes' record in home conditions - averaging 22.90 per wicket prior to this Test - trumps the pair of them (Broad 26.53, Anderson 23.85).
Added to the mix is the X-factor of Jofra Archer, his extra pace, effortless action and pure, God-given talent that has seen him become almost one of the first names on the team-sheet within a year of his sensational debut against Australia at Lord's.
In fact, England's mistake in dropping Broad for the first Test of the series at The Ageas Bowl said more about their desperation to find a spot for Archer in the side than it did about any waning faith in Stuart's skills - skills he has emphatically proven he still possesses, with 14 wickets at 10.50 since.
Broad was the star of the show on the third morning of the Test, taking all four remaining West Indies first-innings wickets to fall, as the others looked a little off form, but all four were certainly firing prior to tea on day two.
In the first 25 overs of their reply to England's 369, the West Indies stumbled their way to 59-3 in the face of some supremely skilful spells from England's fearsome foursome; Anderson, Broad and Archer all chipping in with a wicket but, all of them, as well as Woakes, could conceivably have taken many more.
It prompted Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain to say, "in these conditions, these four seamers, I can't think of a better attack.
"In 2005, maybe, but even in 2005, they needed a bit of reverse swing with Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff."
Earlier in the year, during lockdown, Steve Harmison - part of that famous Ashes-winning attack in 2005 - said he believed that unit of himself, Flintoff, Jones and Matthew Hoggard to be the best.
"I think the best team England have ever had is Andrew Strauss' team that won in Australia [in 2010/11]," said Harmison. "That was the best team, but our bowling attack was the best, I thought, by a decent way - because of who we came up against, that Australian side in 2005."
Hussain, later clarifying his comments, added that while the England attacks of 2005 and 2010 have a rightful claim to the crown, in typically English, overcast conditions like those we have seen for this series, he would take England's current quartet.
"I compared this attack to the 2005 one at tea, while a couple of people rightly mentioned the 2010 attack that Strauss had that won the Ashes down under," Hussain added.
"[But] I just like this one in these conditions. The one Michael Vaughan had in 2005, on dry pitches in a dry summer, Flintoff and Jones reversing it [was very good].
"In these conditions, with no reverse, a green outfield, lights on; Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Archer, [even] as a seasoned English-type batsman, you wouldn't want to play against those four."
The West Indies batsmen will certainly, stubbornly be looking to deny that England attack on the final day of the Test - their cause aided by a day four washout - as they try to tie the series and retain the Wisden Trophy.
But if this is truly England's best-ever attack, they can prove it by leading the team to victory on Tuesday. Their best chance of doing that would be by replicating those 25 first-innings overs up to tea on Saturday afternoon.
They need Archer at his fiery best, bowling the type of vicious, surprise short ball right into the rib cage like the one that had a leaping John Campbell uncomfortably splicing to gully.
They need the metronomic Anderson skilfully working away outside off stump, moving it in and away from the batsmen, like the deliveries that led to the wickets of Shai Hope and Shamarh Brooks first time round.
They need the underrated Woakes relentlessly plugging away, nibbling the ball off the seam and hopefully getting greater reward than his first-innings efforts earned.
And, most importantly, they need Broad to continue precisely where he left off on Sunday evening, hitting that fuller length that has brought him such reward, not only in this series but in the past two years since a sit down with skipper Joe Root in New Zealand.
Broad, chatting to Sky Sports earlier in the Test, pointed to a dismissal of Windies opener Campbell last week as symbolic of how that change of approach has paid off.
"Rooty sat me down in 2018 in Hamilton, I think, and said, 'we want to try a slightly different style with the new ball'," recalled Broad. "'We don't mind going for a few more runs, if we can make a couple more breakthroughs'.
"The last couple of years, we've taken a little bit more of a risk. Campbell, in the last game, was the prime example of that.
"I got driven through the off side and five years ago I'd have kicked the turf, saying 'too full', but actually I was clapping, thinking that's exactly the sort of shot I want to see to a brand new ball.
"I had another go and fortunately got the nick."
Broad got Campbell again with exactly that perfect, fuller length in the second innings on Sunday and then added nightwatchman Kemar Roach, nicking off, in his next over. It was almost too easy.
What else would you expect from 'England's best-ever bowling attack'?
Watch day five of the series-deciding third #raisethebat Test between England and West Indies live from 10.30am on Tuesday on Sky Sports Cricket.
