As Broad says, West Indies are the heroes of the summer... English cricket owes them a debt of gratitude

SAM MORSHEAD: The players and coaches who flew over from the Caribbean in early June left behind tranquility, touching down instead in one of the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic

On the day Stuart Broad claimed his 500th Test wicket to join a small group of cricket greats, the England seamer made sure the efforts of the touring West Indies players and backroom staff did not go unnoticed.

Broad’s achievement was the headline story of the final day at Emirates Old Trafford, as England secured a 269-run victory to regain the Wisden Trophy with a 2-1 series success.

The 34-year-old is one of just seven men to have passed the 500 barrier, and you could have forgiven him for diving into a celebration of his own work at the first opportunity.

But in a post-match interview with Sky, Broad insisted on giving the Windies travelling party credit before accepting the adulations for himself.

“It would be wrong of me not to say a huge thank you to the West Indies team because without them - and the sacrifice they made coming over here, living in this bio-secure bubble the whole time - this wouldn’t be possible,” he said.

“There’s a huge thank you from all of our players to the Windies because they’ve been the heroes of the summer so far.”

^{English cricket has a debt of gratitude to West Indies for touring this summer}

The players and coaches who flew over from the Caribbean in early June left behind tranquility, touching down instead in one of the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Such was the perceived and real danger of the trip, three men asked to be excused from selection - Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo and Keemo Paul - and with West Indies not making profit from the series either, only a handful of incentives remained.

One of those was ensuring that cricket could continue, even behind closed doors, during the coronavirus crisis. West Indies, though arguably tied to the ECB via a reported £2.4million loan prior to the start of the series - which the administrating body in the Caribbean insisted was not linked to the tour, jetted into Manchester on June 8 for the good of the game.

Subsequently, they played a major part in an entertaining series, which has given cricket in England and Wales a substantial morale boost, not to mention alleviated some financial worries - each Test is said to be worth around £20million as part of the bumper TV rights contract the ECB holds with its broadcast partners.

While in the second and third matches of the campaign, at Old Trafford, the tourists’ batting could not stand up to the stern examination of England’s impressive seam bowling unit, there has been much to like about the way in which the Windies have played.

Shannon Gabriel, who only squeaked into the Test squad after proving his fitness in warm-up matches, managed - by hook, crook, needle and thread - to get himself through the entire series bowling aggressively and at good pace.

^{West Indies have played entertaining cricket throughout the series}

Kemar Roach became the first West Indian since Sir Curtly Ambrose in 1994 to reach 200 Test wickets, having hauled himself out of a long dry streak. Jermaine Blackwood became the first No.6 ever to score a half-century in a successful fourth-innings chase in England - and, while occasionally slipping into the hot-collared character prescribed to him after recent meetings between the sides, showed genuine grit on more than one occasion.

Alzarri Joseph evidently has the temperament and discipline necessary to forge a long career at the top of the game, and England still find themselves falling over their own feet around Roston Chase.

Such has West Indies’ fall from grace been since the turn of the century, in Test cricket at least, they are no less underdogs on trips to these shores than Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. For more than half of this series, though, they held their noses level with England. The positives vastly outweigh the negatives - though at times their batting looks not so much underbaked as a pile of flour and eggs, and the Shai Hope experiment at No.3 will surely be classified under ‘nutty professor’ should it be pursued any longer.

It is of huge credit to their character, attitude, and embrace of the sport as a global community - a concept cricket often seems to forget - that West Indies have spent eight long weeks cooped up in hotel rooms, hidden behind masks. It’s been a huge pleasure to watch them.

As Broad so rightly pointed out, English cricket - and all of us who love and make a living within the game - owe these men an enormous debt of gratitude.

For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive four issues for £15