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England need to work with young batters despite the inevitable failures | Mark Ramprakash
Collapses in West Indies brought back bad memories of 2019. Little seems to have changed with pressure to succeed at Test level still leading to bad decision-making
Another series defeat and England have now won one of their past 17 Tests. Whatever decisions are made over the next few weeks I expect this run to continue for a good while yet because, put simply, where you need a nucleus of quality, experienced players at the heart of a Test team they have a vacuum.
Particularly in this form of the game, the lack of experience countering different conditions is unquestionably a disadvantage. England has an oversupply of young white-ball talent, players who can come in and play brilliantly from the off. But to succeed at the highest level of the red-ball game there are no short cuts – a batter needs to put in the hours grooving a repeatable technique that can stand up under pressure against the best bowlers in the world. There are not many Alastair Cooks who can come in and make a hundred on debut; that attitude, character and skill needs to be built up over a period of time.
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