Damp Test ends with final-day washout

The Edgbaston Test met a watery end as the final day was washed out, leaving England 2-0 winners against West Indies in the three-Test series.

Umpires Tony Hill and Kumar Dharmasena, who were widely criticised for taking the players off for bad light on Sunday, delayed the abandonment until 3.00pm as persistent rain fell upon Birmingham once more and any prospects of play seemed minimal. England were 221 for 5 in reply to West Indies' 426

Only 187.3 overs were possible in the Test which also lost its first two days to rain, the first time this had happened in a Test in England since 1964.

England and West Indies will now contest three one-day internationals in the NatWest Series as well as a Twenty20 international, starting at West End on Saturday. Further unsettled weather is forecast for the rest of the month.

The West Indies will hope for better luck with the weather in their sole warm-up against Middlesex at Lord's on Wednesday which is set to mark the return of Chris Gayle.

Not perfect, but an efficient job from England

Sometimes on a long journey it is worth pausing to reflect on what progress has been made. There was a time, not so long ago, when a 2-0 series victory by England over West Indies would have been celebrated as little short of a spectacular.

But, in the last couple of years, England have climbed to the top of the Test and Twenty20 rankings. It speaks volumes for their improvement - and West Indies' decline - that this series result surprised nobody. It was not always like this and it will not always be like this in the future. Indeed, in years to come and despite the bumps in the road experienced in the UAE, we may reflect on this as the golden age of English cricket.

Whether that age is to be sustained remains to be seen. Certainly the next 18-months contains tougher tests and how England come through them will define the legacy of the team. Quite apart from the Ashes and the South African challenge, they have serious questions to answer about their adaptability to Asian conditions.

However, they can look back on this series against West Indies and congratulate themselves on an efficient job. England were pushed hard at times, but there were very few real periods of tension. England, persistent, disciplined and relentless, may not be the team with the most flair in Test cricket. But they make fewer mistakes than most. With their long batting line-up and an excellent first choice bowling attack, they remain tough to beat in England, at least.

It is worth reflecting, too, on some of the questions that hung over the side heading into the series. Most pertinently, there were doubts - quite reasonable doubts - over Andrew Strauss' future as a Test batsman. To a lesser extent, there were concerns over Ian Bell, too, doubts over who should fill the No. 6 position and who should be the third seamer.

We have enjoyed fewer than 11 full days of Test cricket in this series, yet all but one of those questions has been answered with reassuring confidence. Strauss, with two centuries in the first two Tests, proved his worth and won the Man-of-the-Series award for England. Bell averaged over 100 and produced three half-centuries, including some sublime strokes at Edgbaston and some calm batting under pressure at Lord's. Tim Bresnan won the Man-of-the-Match award at Trent Bridge with an all-round performance that underlined his worth to the team.

Only Jonny Bairstow failed to take the opportunity. While he has not looked out of place in the international environment, he failed to score the runs that might have guaranteed his selection for the series against South Africa. It would be premature to reach conclusions about a 22-year-old with only three completed innings behind him, but the fact is that four of England's top seven made centuries on Test debut and, after three Tests, Bairstow averages 12.66. International sport is brutal and impatient.

Andy Flower offered encouraging words for Bairstow, however. "We should be careful not to judge him too harshly," Flower said. "He's a really good young man. A strong, hungry young cricketer and he has a very high ceiling. None of us know if he'll be a successful international cricketer or not but he's played a couple of limited-overs games already where he's helped win games for England. He's a quick learner. There's a history of good young cricketers coming in getting a taste of international cricket and coming back stronger, even if they've not had a hugely successful start."

	England, persistent, disciplined and relentless, may not be the team with the most flair in Test cricket. But they make fewer mistakes than most

There were a couple of other areas of concern for England. The first session of the fourth day at Edgbaston represented, arguably, England's worst session in the field for several years. While it would be unwise to read too much into one session when a tailender played the innings of his life on a pristine batting surface, it does seem fair to conclude that James Anderson and Stuart Broad's positions as first choice bowlers remain unquestioned. Graham Onions, in particular, bowled impressively, but he will, for now, remain reliant on rotation and injury for his opportunities.

"One of the things about missing a couple of your senior players is it makes you realise what role they do play in the side," Strauss said afterwards. "It also allows you to see what role the other guys could play in the side. I think the picture is a lot clearer now.

"We came to this Test with every intention of Broad playing. It was a last-minute thing that he didn't play. Although we didn't play brilliantly, I am very comfortable and happy that we made that decision, because it will serve us well come the South Africa series. Onions and Steven Finn both showed that they are definitely Test quality bowlers."

Perhaps England also missed Paul Collingwood. Maybe that sounds strange - Collingwood has not played Test cricket since the Ashes in early 2011 - and it was not so much for his determined batting or occasional bowling that was missed. But his excellent catching at third slip has not been replaced and, with Ian Bell dropping two chances in the position at Edgbaston, it is an area England must improve before South Africa arrive.

Had England taken their catches on the third day, they may well have wrapped up the West Indies' first innings before stumps that evening. If they drop Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis or AB de Villiers, it could well cost them a Test. Anderson, excellent in all fielding positions, cannot be there all the time as he will often be bowling.

"The catching was disappointing," Strauss admitted. "That's something we need to get better at. The third slip area is one where we need to develop someone to do an all-round job, rather than chopping and changing. We've got a number of guys with great hands in our side. Bell fields at slip for Warwickshire and Alastair Cook has got good hands, but it's about someone getting used to that position and you've got to give them time to do that. That's something we have to work on.

"But I think by and large we are very happy to have won the series. The West Indies have got some dangerous players, but we were able to overcome that challenge and we obviously go into our next Test assignment in good fettle and feeling confident. We are also aware that there are definitely areas in which we need to improve.

"We played enough good cricket in those first two Tests to win reasonably comfortably. This Test was frustrating for all sorts of reasons. Clearly the rain wiping out the first two days doesn't help with the intensity of the cricket and we certainly didn't get everything right when we were out there in the field. There are definitely areas we need to sharpen up on. Obviously we dropped a few catches and you don't want to be in a situation where their No. 11 gets 95 all that often. We're probably aware that we need to improve our standards a bit before that South Africa series starts."

With Strauss not involved in England's limited-overs teams or Middlesex's Friends Life t20 side, he will spend some time in the nets over the coming weeks. As Middlesex only have one first-class game - against Nottinghamshire at Uxbridge from July 11 - there remains the possibility that he will once again be 'loaned' to Somerset for a two-day game against the South Africans at Taunton on July 9 and 10.

West Indies can feed off Best

ould not stop smiling, and at times even had to hide his chuckle behind the West Indies cap, as his team-mate Tino Best responded to questions at the end-of-series media conference with a fresh exuberance and vivacity, normally amiss in modern athletes. Best might have spoken for only a few minutes, but each thing he said he showed how he was enjoying every moment of his comeback.

West Indies can hire psychologists and devise as many plans as possible to take that crucial next step which is essential to start winning. Or they can just turn to Best and learn from him how to enjoy a day at work. To excel at work, it is critical you first enjoy it. That is how you bring passion to what you do and get immersed in it. It is a lesson in life that comes with experience.

Before this match, Best had featured in only 14 Tests. He is 30. He still does not have a five-wicket haul. His batting average before Saturday was nine and a highest score of 27. If there was claim to fame moment, it arrived during the Lord's Test in 2004 when Andrew Flintoff baited Best with "mind-the-windows-Tino" after he had charged Ashley Giles, the former England left-arm spinner, unsuccessfully. Best was soon stumped and Flintoff belly-laughed.

Importantly, Best laughed with the world and that allowed him to keep the wick of competition inside him burning. Now he revealed how his friends back in his native Barbados had asked him to keep working hard, keep bowling fast and keep smiling while being ready for the next call-up which came when Shannon Gabriel was injured.

Best quietly practiced in the background in Nottingham and arrived to Birmingham expecting to warm the benches considering Fidel Edwards had been declared fit. However, it did not take Best much time to leave a new mark although even his team-mates were not ready for the kind of innings he unleashed on Sunday.

"We all know what Tino Best is like - whatever he does I guarantee you it is full of excitement and dramas," Sammy said. "I remember while we were warming up the coach said 'Tino, I need a 25 from you today. And I'm not talking about 25 overs. I know you are going to give me that.' And he went out and gave the coach 95. That was very pleasing to watch."

As Best crossed his maiden fifty, celebrating by unleashing that wonderful smile, people felt he might go for the slog. Until then Best had occupied most of the strike leaving Denesh Ramdin, West Indies' most experience player in the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, stranded in the 60s.

But once he crossed fifty Best slowed down and encouraged Ramdin to his century. And when he himself was in the 90s, he started taking singles cautiously. Unable to withstand the pressure, he went for the long handle and paid the price. Yet the smile remained as he returned to a hearty applause from everyone at the ground. Best let out a big chuckle when asked if he was thinking of promoting himself in the batting line-up to strengthen the weak middle-order. He then joked about breaking his own record.

Best then returned with the new ball in hand, started with a no-ball but bounced back with two wickets during aggressive spells of fast bowling. He seized his moment. That is the message West Indies need to take from his success.

West Indies competed well with England in many sessions across the 11 days of cricket that were possible in the three-Test series. There were some individual successes too, most notably Marlon Samuels. However, at crucial moments such as the final morning at Lord's when England returned to chase a small target having lost two quick wickets previous evening against a fierce spell of fast bowling from Kemar Roach, West Indies could not grasp the opportunity.

Then at Trent Bridge on the second morning, after both Sammy and Samuels had worked hard to rebuild the innings on the first day, Sammy threw his wicket when the need was to keep the innings building. The series was finally lost during the subsequent third-evening collapse having kept England to a manageable lead.

Sammy conceded that West Indies were competent, but did not "compete long enough." What he was pleased about, though, was the never-say-die attitude his men showed in the final Test which Sammy and Ottis Gibson have been drumming into them throughout the series.

"The sessions of play we got, we dominated. The way Tino and Ramdin played for us, not forgetting Marlon the way he batted throughout the series. We said we would come here with a never-say-die attitude and that last-wicket partnership was just a perfect example of the attitude we have," Sammy said. "It was great to watch and on that same flat wicket we got five wickets. With more play, you never know what could happen."

Best's hunger is the type of passion more evident in this team led by Sammy and something they need to build on in the forthcoming series against New Zealand in the Caribbean. "My inspiration honestly came fromFire in Babylon," Best said referring to the recent film about the great West Indies team of the 1980s.

"My people back in Barbados, in my community, just kept telling me 'don't give up, you can bowl quick. Don't sulk about not playing for the West Indies; try to perform on a consistent basis for Barbados and you give yourself an opportunity to get that chance.' I just put my head down, ran in quick for Barbados and people took notice and said he's a bit more mature than before and I got my chance."

He also heard from an old friend again shortly after his innings ended. Yesterday immediately after Best threatened to hit the ball into the Bull Ring in the heart of Birmingham, Flintoff was on Twitter. "Nnnoooooooooo TIno ! He went for the windows to reach his 100 ! Well played sir, great entertainment (t)ake a bow." This time it was no joke.

Denesh Ramdin fined for gesture

the West Indies wicket-keeper, has been fined 20% of his match fee for his paper-waving protest directed at Viv Richards after reaching his century on the fourth day of the Edgbaston Test. The ICC charged Ramdin with conduct contrary to the spirit of the game and he pleaded guilty to the offence.

"We all understand the importance of celebrating a milestone, however, one should not use that time as an opportunity to hit out at one's critic or send messages to the world," Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, said. "I hope Mr Ramdin has learnt his lesson from this incident and that we will not see such behaviour by him or any player in the future when celebrating an achievement within a game of international cricket."

Immediately after he pushed Tim Bresnan behind square for a single to reach his second Test century, Ramdin removed his helmet, and to the surprise of everyone removed a piece of paper from his right pocket and flashed it aggressively towards the pavilion. The message read: "YEH VIV TALK NAH."

After the days' play, Ramdin revealed he had prepared the note on Saturday morning. He said it was a response to Richards' criticism of his deteriorating form after he had scored only 51 runs and kept wicket inconsistently in the first two Tests. Ramdin later admitted his reaction had been emotional.

Darren Sammy, West Indies captain, said the fine was unfortunate, but that his players respected past achievements. "We as a West Indian team have a lot of respect for our past players especially somebody so great as Sir Viv," Sammy said. "We all take a lot of inspiration from Fire in Babylon which reflects our history. I know Ramdin will probably have a word with him and I hope there is no love lost. And we will move on and continue respecting our great past players."

Michael Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler, had been critical of Ramdin on ESPNcricinfo, saying that Ramdin had crossed the line and should be reprimanded severely.

Sammy settled for backing the ICC fine. "The ICC match referee has done his part," he said. "We are all human beings and things do happen and as a team we support our players. That said we've got to do what is right. Denesh realised he probably overdid it a little bit."

Sammy said he was completely unaware of Ramdin's celebration plans and was actually expecting the Trinidadian, who is a big fan of Chelsea football player Didier Drogba, to slide on the Edgbaston turf. "I was wondering what the celebration would be. I know he is a big fan of Didier Drogba. So I thought he would probably slide. But none of us knew what was coming."

Ramdin has had a piece of paper stored in his pocket each time he has scored a hundred, both of which have come against England. In 2009, at Bridgetown, when he scored his maiden Test century, he unfurled another piece of paper, listing three names: Ian Bishop, David Williams and Ramnaresh Sarwan. It was his vote of thanks for playing a big role in his performance.

The fact was not lost on Sammy. "Probably he should bat with more notes in his pocket," he joked.