West Indies saunter to series win in Grenada as red-ball reset fails at first hurdle

It took less than a session of day four for West Indies to complete the job they had all but completed the previous evening, condemning their guests to yet another fruitless trip to the Caribbean

Grenada (day four of five): England 204 & 120, West Indies 297 & 28-0 - West Indies won by 10 wickets

Scorecard

And so England have gone through an entire winter without winning a Test.

It took less than a session of day four in Grenada for West Indies to complete the job they had all but completed the previous evening, condemning their guests to yet another fruitless trip to the Caribbean.

But this is about more than one series and one match for England, even if the Richards-Botham Trophy was effectively decided by the obdurance of Joshua da Silva and fragility of England's batting order on this spicy National Stadium surface on Saturday.

^{Chris Woakes walks off after his dismissal on day four (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

Joe Root's team have now failed to win any of their last five Test series, stretching back to the trip to Sri Lanka at the beginning of 2021. 

Depending on your perspective on the aborted Test against India in September, it would not be unreasonable to say they have lost all five. 

The red-ball reset promised ahead of the trip to the Caribbean, the jettisoning of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, and a promise to focus on the future has proved to be little more effective than rebooting a laptop to get rid of a virus. 

It will require so much more to 'fix' the issue. 

That will be the responsibility of whoever gets the managing director and head coach roles. And maybe it is a question for another day.

Because on Sunday there will be plenty of celebrations among locals on Grenada, where home fans over the weekend have outnumbered English supporters for the first time in this series.

^{Kemar Roach celebrates the dismissal of Woakes (Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images)}

West Indies have, like England, got used to losing over recent seasons. This is a famous win, spearheaded by exciting talents like Joshua da Silva and Jayden Seales, and it would be wrong to miscast it as simply a product of their visitors' deficiencies. 

It was fitting that Kraigg Brathwaite was on the field to see his country over the line, given how much time he has spent in the middle over the course of this campaign.

The West Indies captain and John Campbell made sure no wickets were lost in their pursuit of a paltry target of 28, after Chris Woakes was dismissed to a ridiculous one-handed catch at leg gully by Jason Holder and Jack Leach edged behind to see England bundled out for 120 in their second innings.

Brathwaite finished the series in pulsating form, driving elegantly through wide mid-off, square cutting with aplomb and flicking anything off-target through midwicket. All to the sound of joyous vuvuzelas.