England have now completed their three-test series against the West Indies and there are more negatives than positives to take from the games. The positives are the most straight-forward to identify; Alistair Cook made runs at the top of the order while Joe Root continued his year-long golden streak with the bat – 358 runs in the series, ably assisted by Gary Balance – an English 3 and 4 that should run and run, if you’ll pardon the play on words. Jimmy Anderson proved his mastery of swing bowling yet again, if only with the Dukes ball, and surpassed the long-standing record of Ian Botham for the most prolific test wicket taker in England’s history. Stuart Broad also showed signs of regaining some rhythm without the luck that he deserved.

The negatives however are both plain and in other ways more subtle and nuanced. There are the obvious ones; Jonathan Trott has made no impact in the opening batsman position. His former ability to get on the front foot and time a ball to the boundary has left him against the quicker bowlers; he was moving at the crease before the ball was bowled and flailing outside the off stump. His talent diminished Trott has now retired, he would have been a laughing stock in the summer against Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris. His record is one he should be proud of but the decision to bring him back in to the test side with only limited county cricket, in an unfamiliar position was a big mistake.

Ian Bell had one good innings but scratched around the rest of the time and mostly threw his wickets away. Bell has the same problem he has always had, an inability to concentrate and an arrogance against seemingly playable bowlers which undoes him. England employ so many back room staff and psychologists you’d think one of them could have got him to motivate the grey matter upstairs. Whatever happens in the next few years, Bell will finish in test cricket with an average in the mid-40s, but he’ll known in his heart it should have been ten more had he had the knack of focussing more at the crease. Just below him Jos Buttler has, like all maverick batsmen that pull on an England jersey, had his natural flair beaten out of him; while a strike rate of 62 seems quick, there were times when he couldn’t get the humblest of bowler away. The natural English conservatism of protecting your wicket has been drummed in to him.

Moeen Ali was unfortunate to be run out on his way, it seemed, to a fairly faultless hundred. That aside his spin bowling has been shown, on very friendly wickets, to be ineffective. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Moeen was picked in the side for his batting, with the implication you might get a few partnership breaking bowling spells thrown in. When he came in to the team he averaged nearly 40 with the ball in county cricket; an excellent performance against India, normally so adept at playing regulation spin, made him shine too brightly, too briefly. He is a good all-round cricketer but he is not a first line spin bowler, not yet. On the sidelines was a genuine attacking leg-spinner in Adil Rashid, not the first time he has been taken on tour as a spectator. England have an aversion to leg-spin bowling because, generally, it’s expensive. Rashid is expensive in the county game but last season he still took a hatful of wickets at an average of 26 a-piece. England want a Shane Warne, and unless he comes they refuse to acknowledge leg-spin. Shane Warne is a once in a lifetime player, he’s not going to suddenly be re-discovered with an English passport aged 19 playing in the Lancashire league for Oldham – and no young players want to be leg-spinners because they know there is no chance of moving up the ranks by bowling it. Rashid’s confidence must be shot once again by an England call-up that confirms him as a nearly-man. Even James Tredwell got a game, a man with woeful recent first class average but “he keeps it tight”.

The rest of the bowling attack are average. Every one of them is a right arm fast-medium bowler. None of them are particularly bad, just similar to the others. There’s little variety, even in height so the bounce and angle remain the same from action to action. I’m yet to be convinced by Ben Stokes as a genuine all-rounder, he scored one 50 in six innings and took 3 wickets at over 80-a-piece; again I reference Rashid as an alternate option, especially on the turning pitches that were served up.

Three players were all taken from one county who didn’t get a sniff of a game; Rashid, Lyth and Plunkett. Plunkett is the quickest bowler of the pack, Lyth a qualified and confident opening batsman while Rashid, as previously mentioned, is the wild card. All of these potential England cricketers could have been getting much needed cricket in English conditions ahead of this summer’s test series’ against New Zealand and Australia, instead they have been carrying drinks for England’s untouchable core of players.

What this all boils down is the conservatism that is built in to the hierarchical structures of English cricket. From the men in suits to the men in tracksuits and whites, they share a philosophy of safety first and jobs for the boys. Ashley Giles for example had proved nothing when he was given the one-day coaching role before having it ripped from him shortly afterward, Cook got the captaincy by dint of his position in the side rather than any man-management or tactical expertise. Now we hear that Andrew Strauss, or Straussy to most of the England players, is to be the new Director of English Cricket only a few years after being in that same set-up, with Bell, Cook, Anderson, Broad et al. it’s more jobs for the public school boys. Strauss will offer nothing different and will be incapable of disciplining his friends. The only reason the ECB are bringing him in is to shut the Kevin Pietersen door firmly and lock, bolt and latch it at the same time.

Colin Graves is a man who might actually make a difference and he was absolutely right to call the West Indies mediocre. They have six or seven players who should have walked in to this team playing in the IPL; Gayle, Simmons, Sammy, Bravo, Pollard, Russell and Narine – no team can lose seven players and still compete but the West Indies did, and credit too them, but it’s because of the failure of the ideology of the England team that they did so; it is one of staid conventionalism that can’t think outside the box it grew up in. If they don’t start freshening things up very soon then not only will Australia wallop them this summer, but so will the more immediate effervescent New Zealand side.