WI vs ENG | Wood, Robinson rub salt to the wound; doubtful for 1st Test

The woes of England in test cricket continue to aggravate as two of their frontline seamers Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson are doubtful for the first test against West Indies, owing to illness and injury respectively. 

While Robinson walked off with a recurrence of the back injury that affected him at the end of the Ashes, Wood was absent from the Coolidge ground all day after feeling unwell on Wednesday. 

England had left out both of their most experienced seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad ahead of this series in order to bring some reforms into their pace attack. Both Robinson and Wood were expected to lead their attack in this series. In their absence, their already inexperienced bowling unit has become even more toothless ahead of the first test in Antigua, which is definitely a huge concern for skipper Joe Root. 

If both these players don’t get fully fit in time, England will certainly go with Chris Woakes and Craig Overton as their lead seamers, with either of Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher playing the role of the third seamer in Antigua.  

Although Robinson has been promising in his brief career so far, his fitness hasn’t been something to cheer about. He suffered hamstring and shoulder problems during the Ashes. 

Even the English bowling coach Jon Lewis had questioned his fitness as he suffered another back spasm during the fifth test at Hobart. He had a decent time of six weeks to work on his fitness and got involved in the process, but unfortunately, he lasted for just half an hour on the field and walked off mid-over after dismissing Devon Thomas in the warm-up game against West Indies President’s XI on Thursday. 

Talking about the ongoing warmup game, England are currently placed at 77 for 3 with a massive lead of 279 runs. The absence of Robinson and Wood didn’t cost the tourists much as their spinners, particularly Jack Leach, turned out to be lethal on the slowish track of Coolidge ground. Leach picked four crucial wickets and played a key role in dismantling the West Indies President’s XI for mere 264 runs. Thus, the experienced left-arm spinner has posed a strong case for his inclusion in the upcoming first of the three tests starting from 8th March in Antigua.