I’m always quite happy at the start of an English test series, when its in the warmth of the West Indies and the timings mean I can watch a fair bit of action I’m even happier! With the day’s play starting around 3pm it gives me plenty of time to watch live cricket rather than highlights so lets hope for some good action!

They say they won’t announce the side until closer to the start of the game, but if they go in with two specialist spinners I would be very surprised. KP can do more than enough as a second spinner and given the second warm up game showed us how batsman friendly the pitches can be, I think we need the extra seamer to spread the workload. Thankfully Freddie is fit to play, whether Bell and Collingwood survive will be a close call and Harmy will be hoping to play on the pitch which gave him his best figures of 7-12 a few years back. However, Sidebottom is fit again and in the reckoning and Anderson can be brilliant on his day so there are decisions to be made by the new skipper.

I don’t have any doubts on Strauss as a captain, he’s got a air of calmness and authority that works well and I’m looking forward to how he copes with the challenges of captaining the team. Roll on this afternoon!!