ENG vs WI 3rd Test: 5 Talking Points as Stuart Broad destroys visitors in Wisden Trophy decider
The first international series post the COVID-19 break has finally reached its conclusion, and it didn't disappoint. Rain, which threatened to play spoilsport in every game, largely stayed away to ensure that a result was achieved in each Test of the final Wisden Trophy.
England ran out 2-1 winners against the West Indies, with comeback man Stuart Broad claiming the Man of the Match honour as well as his team's Man of the Series award.
West Indies, who promised so much in the 1st Test, fell apart in the next two games to surrender rather meekly to the hosts. Their Man of the Series was awarded to all-rounder Roston Chase.
England's 269-run win in the 3rd Test sealed the series triumph, with the Three Lions riding on Broad's 10-wicket match haul and Rory Burns' twin fifties. Chris Woakes also scalped a 5-wicket haul in the final innings of the Test.
Here are 5 talking points from the series decider between England and West Indies.
#5 England expose the Windies batting line-up's technical frailties
Coming into this series, the inexperienced West Indies batting lineup was always the scanner and despite a couple of promising innings from Jermaine Blackwood and Shamarh Brooks, they largely disappointed.
Shai Hope, who was expected to be the leader of the batting order given his white-ball prowess and undoubted class, couldn't get anywhere close to his Headingley heroics of 2017. In the absence of a dependable batsman in the top order, the Windies' technically fragile lower-order was exposed.
Blackwood, Brooks and Rahkeem Cornwall have all the shots in the book, but their porous defence and a tendency to plonk the front foot across off-stump cost them dearly, with them often being caught in front of the stumps. Another footwork issue plagued them - being neither forward nor back, and getting caught on the crease.
West Indies need to sort out these issues immediately if they are to win Test matches consistently in difficult conditions.