Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARYTHE START of the Power Test series between the West Indies and England is one day away and, with the clock ticking away, the question around London is: can the tourists defeat the home team?
The answer appears to be no and for some good reasons.
While a man-for-man comparison shows that the West Indies top five batsmen Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are as good as, if not better than the line-up of Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher or Robert Key and Graham Thorpe, England are ahead in almost everything else.
With Andrew Flintoff at number six and Geraint Jones at number seven for England and Wayne Smith or Dwayne Bravo and Ridley Jacobs in those positions for the West Indies, England's batting goes deeper than that of the West Indies.
With England's bowlers, including pacers Steve Harmison the man rated by such past masters as Michael Holding and Ian Bishop as the number one fast bowler in the business, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, James Anderson and Flintoff plus left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, and the West Indies bowlers including pacers Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Tino Best, Jermaine Lawson and offspinner Omari Banks, England's attack is better than that of the West Indies and unless there is deterioration in one and an improvement in the other, England's fielding is better than that of the West Indies.
On top of that, England, with the psychological advantage after winning the past two series, one at home and one away, will be playing at home, and if the summer is filled with bleak days as predicted, that will be heavily in their favour.
With so much apparently in favour of England and so much apparently against the West Indies, it should be England all the way.
That, however, may not be so.
With the four Test matches scheduled for Lord's, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and The Oval, history suggests that the West Indies have a chance. In fact, based on their record on those grounds, the West Indies could win two with two going to the wire.
LOWEST TOTALS
In 16 matches at Lord's, although England have won six and the West Indies four, even though England bowlers have taken five wickets in an innings 15 times and the West Indies bowlers have done so on only nine occasions, and although England's lowest total is 134 in 2000 and the West Indies lowest is 54 also in 2000, the West Indies bowlers have taken 10 wickets in a match four times two times more than England's bowlers.
The West Indies have scored 17 centuries three more than England, Gordon Greenidge's 214 not out in 1984 is better than Len Hutton's 196 in 1939, and whereas England's highest total is 424 in 1957, the Windies best is 652 for eight declared in 1973.
As far as the categories are concerned, that is four for the West Indies and three for England.
In the seven matches at Edgbaston, although no West Indies bowler has taken 10 wickets in a match and one England bowler has done so, although Peter May's 285 not out in 1957 is better than Gary Sobers' 161 in 1957, the West Indies have won four matches and England one, the count of five wickets in an innings shows the West Indies with six and England with one, the count of centuries shows the West Indies with five and England with two.
The count of lowest totals shows West Indies 91 in 1963 and England 89 in 1995, and the count of highest totals shows that the West Indies 606 in 1984 is better than England's 583 for four declared in 1957.
That is five for the West Indies and two for England.
In the 13 matches at Old Trafford, although no West Indies bowler has ever taken a hat-trick there and one England bowler, Dominic Cork, has done so, the West Indies have won five matches and England four, the count of five in an innings shows the West Indies 11 and England seven, the count of 10 wickets in a match shows the West Indies three and England one, the count of centuries shows the West Indies 13 and England five, Greenidge's 223 in 1984 is better than Geoff Boycott's 128 in 1969, the count of lowest total shows the West Indies 115 in 1928 and England 71 in 1976, and the count of highest totals shows the West Indies with 501 for six declared in 1963, England with 437 in 1995.
That is six for the West Indies and two for England.
AT THE OVAL
In 15 matches at The Oval, the West Indies have won six and England six, the count of five wickets in an innings is 12 for one and 12 for the other, the count of 10 wickets in a match is three for the West Indies and two for England, the count of centuries is 14 for England and 11 for the West Indies, Viv Richards' 291 in 1976 is better than Denis Amiss' 203 also in 1976, the count of lowest totals shows the West Indies with 86 in 1957 and England with 103 in 1950, and the count of highest totals shows, the West Indies with 692 for eight declared in 1995 and England with 527 in 1966.
That is three for the West Indies and two for England.
Man for man, plus recent performances and the home advantage, England should be too good for the West Indies. Ground for ground, however, and especially with emphasis on the win category where they are on top two to one with one tied, it may be the West Indies that could be just too good for England.
