2nd Test - Review

James Anderson finally delivered what we all suspected he could (namely a sustained spell of quality swing bowling) as England beat West Indies at the Riverside by an innings and 83 runs to tidy up a 2-0 series win.

England needed seven wickets at the start of play and despite morning showers bowled out West Indies for 176 in the third over after lunch. Anderson ended up with 4-38 and excellent match figures of 9-125, while Tim Bresnan (3-45) claimed his first Test wickets.

With the Wisden Trophy regained in emphatic style, England will be heartened that they have won both Tests by such convincing margins with the first Ashes Test against Australia just seven weeks away.

The opening hour of the final day proved frustrating for England, featuring two interruptions and just 7.1 overs of actual cricket, but the rain was actually beneficial to the bowlers as it added some spice to the wicket, providing both swing and a bit of extra pace.

Doubts crept into the minds of the West Indies batsmen, England got the ball rolling with wickets from a couple of loose deliveries. Firstly, Anderson served up a short ball wide of off-stump, but instead of launching a full-blooded cut shot, Lendl Simmons opted for a tentative waft and simply provided Scott Borthwick, a substitute fielder at backward point, with catching practice. Borthwick claimed a second easy catch to finally give Bresnan his first Test wicket when the Australian Nash guided a ball travelling down the leg side to square-leg. Bresnan's second wicket came in more authentic style when Denesh Ramdin, facing only his second delivery, edged a well pitched-up away-swinger to third slip.

However, Anderson’s best was still to come. Having embarrassed Jerome Taylor with a series of outswingers which the batsman missed, he decided enough was enough and uprooted his off stump with an inswinger.

To be honest, none of the lower order were likely to resist Anderson for long and Sulieman Benn frankly did well to last 12 balls, before a superb ball swung through his defences to make a mess of the stumps.

Chanderpaul only survived 10 balls after the interval as Anderson, maintaining an immaculate line and length, found the outside edge and Paul Collingwood - retaining the gloves while Matt Prior recovered from a badly-bruised finger - clung on to the catch.

The end came moments later as Fidel Edwards smacked a boundary off Bresnan but then skied a catch high to the second substitute fielder, Karl Turner. Positioned at fine leg, the youngster made no mistake - and England now go back up a place to fifth in the rather pointless ICC Test rankings.

Jardine's Verdict: A fine start to the summer but a lot more to do to retain The Ashes