It’s not very often you nearly see history be made, but I , and the millions of Sky Sports 2 viewers almost did on Saturday evening. England’s lowest every total in a Test Match is 45, so at 26 – 7 in the 2^nd innings of the first Test in Jamaica records were definitely in jeopardy.

Jerome Taylor playing in his home country had bowled one of the best spells of fast bowling seen for many years, with figures of 9 – 4 – 11- , on the same ground Steve Harmison famously took 7 Windies wickets for 12 runs in 2004. With the highest score from an England batsman being just 9 from captain Strauss, extras were in genuine contention for top scorer. Freddie Flintoff however halted the West Indies record-breaking training, with a patient 24 before being bowled playing an horrendous shot at 50 – 8. This just left Steve Harmison to sweep Sulliman Benn’s off-break onto his own stumps a gift the hosts a superb and seemingly unlikely innings and 23 run victory.  

England were only six runs away from shattering a 114 year old record, and yes Taylor and Benn and the rest of the Windies attack bowled very well, but a good number of England’s top and middle order will be disappointed with the dismissals in the second innings. Not moving their feet, playing away from their bodies and playing across the line being the main culprits, batting coach and now assistant coach Andy Flower will have to have done a lot of remedial work with the batsman before tomorrow’s 2^nd test in Antigua with the hosts in a very strong position with their proverbial tails up.