England in West Indies: Joe Root grasps opportunity in positive start to new era - Jonathan Agnew
- Published
After choosing not to chase their target of 286, West Indies were 147-4 at the close
It comes with caveats but England's first outing of this new era was pleasing - there were definitely more positives than negatives.
The draw against West Indies in Antigua can be seen as a 'winning' one.
England have looked fresh and energetic, clearly keen to show it is the start of a new era after their humiliating Ashes defeat, and the way they went about trying to force a win on the final day surprised people.
You would not see many captains declaring as Joe Root did with a lead below 300 and 71 overs left in the first Test of a three-match series.
Root knows after what happened in Australia he could very well have lost the captaincy. As a result he looks very keen to really set England off in this new direction.
His declaration showed positive intent and the fact England are embarking on this "reset" of their Test cricket played a part in the decision-making.
England were ultimately stopped by a dreadful pitch that did nothing for the sport, but the players seemed to respond.
Watching here in Antigua, there does feel like there has been a bit of a lift in the England players in general.
That is not because veteran bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, both dropped for this series, are not playing - far from it. But there has clearly been a lot of discussion about how as a team they are going to pick themselves up after Australia and move forward on this course for the future.
England were 48-4 on the first day on a featherbed of a pitch so I am by no means completely sold but I do like what I have seen.
You can't take away the fact that from that position they ended up with three centurions and were the side more likely to win.
That is a positive sign.
One of the big pluses is that Root himself again scored a century. We should not be too surprised - he scored six in 2021 when amassing 1,708 runs in 15 Tests. But the fact it comes as he returns to number three - a place he has spent his career trying to avoid - is a big help. It puts all of the talk into the background.
Zak Crawley, too, has gone from spare batsman in Australia to senior opener in very quick time.
His 121 in the second innings will have done him a lot of good, ending a run of 21 innings without a century since he first reached three figures in an England Test shirt in 2020.
It was just the sort of calm innings you would want from him, while Dan Lawrence's 37 from 36 balls on the final day was a real breath of fresh air.
Lawrence played for the team and took risks even though he is just trying to start out in his career. That points towards a young player with a really good attitude.
Crawley's hundred was his second in 19 Tests and first since 2020
Another player to impress was spinner Jack Leach who, with no help at all from the pitch, took 3-57 on the final day and bowled well.
I had a good chat with him before the Test and he seems in a good place. It is good to see because, for him, it is a question of rehabilitation after he was taken apart by Australia in the Ashes.
On Saturday he took the new ball for England, something you rarely see. It was interesting and also good to see Root is thinking out of the box.
The only real disappointment from the Test is the loss of fast bowler Mark Wood to an elbow injury.
Seamers Chris Woakes and Craig Overton looked pedestrian but any bowler would have on that surface. It is very hard to judge a quick bowler on a pitch like that - I have bowled on similar and you get nothing.
It will, however, be interesting to see what England do if Wood is not available for the second Test in Barbados, starting on Wednesday.
Ollie Robinson was ruled out of this Test with a back injury but has been bowling during the intervals. He looked really dicey on first viewing but by tea on day five he looked more energetic in his bowling.
I suspect he might be considered now but that still would not improve one thing England were lacking in Wood's absence - pace.
Uncapped Lancashire seamer Saqib Mahmood, who can bowl a little quicker, will also come into the reckoning.
There is a long way to go, obviously, but I like what I have seen on this tour so far. I just hope the rest of this three-Test series is not played on pitches like the one we saw at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Matthew Henry.
The Instagram Effect: What power does the platform hold over us?
'It's really dangerous': Dive into a raw and unfiltered motorsport with promise of high-speed crashes
