Whisper it... but a result may be in store on the Spice Isle

GEORGE DOBELL IN GRENADA: It seems unlikely that England will play two frontline spinners in the match. While there have been calls to blood Matt Parkinson, the Lancashire legspinner, it may well be that his best opportunity to play has gone

It’s been a long time coming, but the seamers of both sides may finally have some encouragement in the final Test of the series between West Indies and England.

After two painfully slow wickets in Antigua and Barbados, the surface in Grenada looks as if will offer some decent pace and carry. It is not, by any means, expected to be a minefield, but the seamers on both sides were encouraged by what they saw at training on Tuesday. Nobody is expecting a three-day Test, but they are optimistic it will provide a more even balance between bat and ball.

The series has not offered that so far. Both sides batted for over 150 overs in their first innings in Barbados, with West Indies also batting for more than 150 overs in their first innings in Antigua. While Cricket West Indies insist they asked the grounds to prepare lively pitches, the local cricket boards appear to have decided to try to keep spectators in the ground for the full five days in a bid to maximise food and drink sales.

But the authorities in Grenada seem to have other ideas. Keen to take their opportunity to impress new visitors to the nation, they hope spectators have the sort of vibrant, enjoyable experience which makes them want to return. Anecdotal evidence would suggest Barbados achieved exactly the opposite result.

For that reason, it currently seems unlikely that England will play two frontline spinners in the match. While there have been calls to blood Matt Parkinson, the Lancashire legspinner, it may well be that his best opportunity to play in the series has gone. Unless England make the mistake of picking the team they might have done for the previous Test – which wouldn’t be unique – it looks like the sort of surface where four seamers (including Ben Stokes) and one spinner (Jack Leach) will suffice. The fact that Dan Lawrence and Joe Root can add some off-spin as required probably does Parkinson few favours, either.

That means Jack Leach will be expected to carry the responsibility for proving England’s spin threat once more. It’s been quite the winter for Leach. Like most of his colleagues, he had quite the time of it in Australia. He was mauled in Brisbane (his 13 overs cost 102 runs) and, while he took four wickets in the second-innings in Sydney, still finished the series with an economy rate over four and an average over 50.

^{Jack Leach is likely to be England's only spinner in the third Test}

He appears to have responded well to the added trust and responsibility he has been given in the Caribbean, though. He is currently the top wicket-taker in the series (he has 11 at 26.36 apiece) and has delivered 168.3 overs at an economy-rate of just 1.72 runs per over.

While it’s true the opposition are not as aggressive as Australia, Leach does appear to have gone some way towards becoming the holding bowler England require on flat pitches. He credits some added responsibility – it was noticeable that he was asked to give the team talk ahead of play one day in Antigua - and feeling more secure in his place for the change.

“Australia was a really tough trip for everyone,” Leach admitted from the team hotel in Grenada on Tuesday. “After Brisbane, I felt horrible. That was not a good moment.

“But I think I trained the next day after the game. Jeetan Patel [the spin bowling coach] made me. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is just sit in your room and stew about it. He said ‘let’s do something about it’.

“So I feel like I learned a lot and I came back really motivated and buzzing. I felt like it taught me a lot. I want to reach my ceiling basically as a cricketer and put everything into that. Then I can rest easy that I’ve given it everything.

“I said openly to the group that at Somerset I feel I belong, so I feel more comfortable giving my points of view. Maybe because I felt I belonged in terms of what I offer on the cricket field. We all have stuff to offer, we wouldn’t be here if we are not good enough cricketers, but we can offer in different ways.

“I want to offer with wickets, but if I’m not offering with wickets I want to be awesome in the field and try to score runs. I want to make sure everyone is good in the team environment. I think I am doing the team a disservice if I don’t offer all those things, and I think maybe I got it a bit wrong beforehand. Not on purpose or from a selfish point of view, but I felt I was playing for my spot.

“Before, I felt a lot of pressure on my own individual game and it was just about trying to keep my place in the team. You kind of forget that you are contributing to something bigger. That’s what I feel I have been reminded of. And it almost takes the pressure off your own game when you are playing for something bigger than yourself. That’s the nature of cricket: it’s an individual game within a team game. The team is definitely the most important thing and it’s been really enjoyable to play under.”

^{Leach during the ongoing Test tour of the Caribbean}

Although Leach has performed the holding role pretty well, he admits he wants to be able to offer England a more attacking edge as well. So he has been watching footage of Graeme Swann with a view to learning what England’s best spinner in many ways would have attempted to do. He concedes he probably should have given the ball a little more air in Barbados.

“I've been guilty of easing into spells, earning the right to bowl and going at two an over,” Leach said. “But that's a negative mindset. I've watched YouTube videos of Swann and how attacking that looks. I don't know what he was thinking - in fact I do know, it's 'how am I trying to get this guy out?' - and sometimes that's important early on. The first 20 balls against a batter is your chance. Even if it doesn't happen and I'm bowling 60 overs, it’s important to keep that mindset.

“There are times the pitch felt in Barbados very flat or unresponsive, especially when the ball is older. The newer ball gripped. And it felt tacky early on so it spun. I fell for that on the third morning. I thought I could drive it into the wicket to get it to spin but as the ball gets older, you have to give it more air.

“That's something I'll take forward. It's not something you get used to in England. That's part of the journey of learning to be a spinner in Test cricket.”

While England held a training session in Grenada on Tuesday morning, it was generally only attended by those who had not played in the second Test. Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton were among those training and are in contention to come back into the side, perhaps in place of Matt Fisher and Chris Woakes, as England consider freshening up an attack that spent a long time in the field in Barbados.