The patron saint of false dawns

THE CRICKETER'S MOMENTS OF 2019 - JAMES COYNE: Off I went to Trent Bridge, my favourite British Test ground, to supposedly see 450 play 420 in the second game of the World Cup

Maybe it was the place that made it so interesting. Off I went to Trent Bridge, my favourite British Test ground, to supposedly see 450 play 420 in the second game of the World Cup. That's been the way in white-ball cricket in the Lace City, with that cut-off shape towards the Bridgford Road.

In reality that was wasn't really on the cards this time, given the flakiness of contemporary Pakistani and West Indian batsmanship. Indeed, the rebalancing of the battle between bat and ball would be one of the most fascinating aspects of the World Cup, though I'd argue perhaps the Lord's pitch for the final took it a bit far in terms of its seaminess…

All the same, I wasn't quite expecting Pakistan to be bombed out for 105 at the highest-scoring ground in England. And in that manner. Oshane Thomas and Andre Russell sending down old-fashioned nostril-sniffers, free from unnecessary sanction by the umpires. It was exhilarating.

Of course, it didn't last. The West Indies cricket team are, after all, the patron saint of false dawns. Perhaps the excited questioning from us journos after the match didn't help, but West Indies spent the next few games trying to replicate the strategy on some duller pitches in damper conditions, without the same success. Dre Russ got injured, again. West Indies made a prompt exit from the World Cup.

But I could be excused for getting excited, because England's Test series in the Caribbean at the start of the year had hinted at some kind of renaissance.

^{A searing display from the West Indies quicks saw them open their World Cup campaign by rolling Pakistan for 105}

After two decades of some very turgid Test cricket in the Caribbean, based on the idea that somehow West Indies might beat visiting teams with spinners, the groundsmen seemed to have been empowered by Cricket West Indies to finally liven up the pitches again. Trading in the Kookaburra ball for a special-issue Dukes didn't hurt, either.

And, given that English players don't see as much genuine fast bowling on good tracks as many of us would like, perhaps it was no surprise that England were not up to it in the first two Tests – blown away by the crafty Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph in the first innings at Barbados; then, less gloriously, by Roston Chase's little offies in the second.

The end of that first innings at Barbados was one of those passages of play that gather momentum and stay with you forever: Jos Buttler gloving that unplayable snorter from Roach; Ben Foakes edging a massive outswinger from Joseph which Shane Dowrich leapt to catch. OK, some of it at Antigua went a bit far, like the one that took off at Joe Root's head…

And this isn't some anti-England bias. Mark Wood cut a swathe through West Indies in the last Test at St Lucia with the quickest bowling from an England player that I'd seen for a while, and would see until Jofra Archer later in the summer. Bob Willis surely enjoyed it.

Then, just as I write this piece, I see glimpses on the Fox Cricket highlights of some very hostile bowling at the Perth Stadium from Mitchell Starc and Neil Wagner… and some brave batting to counteract it. Watching that, it was a wonder there was a time when Test batsmen ever went out to bat in Australia without helmets.

I'm not asking for every groundsman in every country to contrive conditions like this. It can be hard to strike the balance between an exciting pitch and an unsafe one. The whole thing is an inexact science which I wouldn't claim to understand.

But it's numbing uniformity that will kill Test cricket, at a time that it needs to sell itself more than ever. It does no harm for Australia, West Indies and South Africa – places where pace bowlers have traditionally been kings – to encourage the quick men from time to time.

OTHER MOMENTS OF 2019

• Nick Friend: T20 Blast Finals Day was just one of many reminders of how lucky I am to do this
• Nick Howson: Imperfect, uncertain and unique, Ben Stokes is the ultimate cricketer for our times
• Sam Morshead: Telling stories is what makes this job great... and this was the greatest I've been privileged to tell
• Owen Riley: "Stokesy, finish it off mate": Jack Leach reminds us we are not so different to England's stars
• Huw Turbervill: Mum would have loved that World Cup, and the colour it brought to The Oval

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