West Indies' success against England is a fresh infusion of oxygen for ailing Test cricket

By Boria Majumdar

From losing 19 wickets in a day to chasing 322 under lights, the transformation couldn't have been more dramatic. England had thrown everything at the West Indies. A really long 10-over spell from James Anderson and an aggressive burst from Stuart Broad but there was always Hope. Shai Hope.

The cricket gods who may have felt for the West Indies last week ended up smiling as Hope gave new hope and a renewed lifeline to world cricket. It's akin to a fresh infusion of oxygen for an ailing Test cricket.

It is a cliché to suggest world cricket needs a strong West Indies. At every stage it did. And had. From George Headley and Learie Constantine to the three W's (Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell), world cricket was richer with a strong Caribbean presence around. Clive Lloyd's team of the late 1970s and early 1980s was the best of all time and the four fast bowlers (Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Joel Garner), cricket's best known gladiators. Fearsome and lethal. To see them run in and hurl their puckish missiles at hapless batsmen against the backdrop of a scenic Barbados was cricket's cardinal draw.

To see 'King' Viv Richards walk in was a thrill. He was the last royal. To see such a force turn limp was disappointing and rank bad for cricket.

And it was only going from bad to worse. From losing to India at home to going down to England under three days in the first Test, it was as if West Indies could do nothing right. No batsmen had the mettle to stand up to Anderson, Broad, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali and no bowler was good enough against Joe Root and Alastair Cook. Even the most ardent of fans had thrown in the gauntlet.

The larger picture was even more a larming. With every West Indian defeat, Test cricket was losing a further ray of hope. Back to Hope. Test average of 19 going into this Test match and written off, it was, in all honesty, the last roll of the dice for the Bajan.

Playing at home, England looked invincible. Most predicted another rout. Tickets were 10 pounds each for the final day and now can be auctioned as memorabilia for a few hundred.

CLR James would have loved to come back and cover the game and given our understanding of resistance a further dimension.

Credit to Joe Root for declaring with a lead of 321. Very much a challenging target and for a team bowled out for 150 in either innings in the last Test match, a mountain to climb. Yes, the pitch had improved or rather played better as the match progressed. It wasn't a pink ball Test either. But it was a test nonetheless.

A test of character, of mettle, of pluck and of self esteem. Sachin Tendulkar has spoken to Brian Lara in the aftermath of the Test match. In jubilation and relief. He is thrilled with the result. Senior Indian journalists were tweeting with under 50 runs left that the West Indies could surely not muck it up from there on. It was as if India were playing Australia in Sydney.

It was a match of lore. For the history books. One for the archives and proof of what Test cricket can still produce when faced with an existential crisis.

Now to Lord's. Cricket's mecca and a temple of history. The venue for the decider. Can the West Indies enrich their own history and add to the lore at cricket's most hallowed turf of all? Can Brathwaite do what he has done one more time? Can Stokes and Anderson be tamed and Broad hit out of the park in the deciding Test of the series? Or are England just too good and it will be back to normal come Lord's? Reason and logic say England. Pure and simple.

At Lord's, Root will be ruthless. But the heart says hope. A very different Hope as we know. Shai, the new hope for cricket and for the West Indies.