Intriguing. Interesting. Fascinating. All words often used to spruce up slightly dull cricket. But the first days’ play in Kingston has been intriguing. And interesting. And good.
A slow outfield may have cramped scoring, but once England had won the toss and elected to bat there’s little doubt Chris Gayle would have been happier than Andrew Strauss had you told the skippers that the visitors would finish the day at 236/5. 350 may well prove a competitive score on this pitch, though there’s also every prospect that it will be flattest, and best for batting on days two and three.
Not that it was a minefield today, mind you. Who would have anticipated that there’d be nearly 50 overs of spin bowled on th first day of a Sabina Park test? While there was novelty in this, it offered another reminder that test match wickets are sadly pedestrian these days and, far too frequently, much of a muchness.
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