West Indies eager to test their mettle but face an uneven playing field

Given the gulfin finances and fixtures between the two sides, the tourists have every right to feel frustrated

- Ali Martin

As Kraigg Brathwaite and his West Indies players lined up to give Jimmy Anderson a guard of honour at Lord's last week, they could have been forgiven for harbouring the odd envious thought. The respect out in the middle was genuine, no question, but one or two might have pondered the disparity of resource and opportunity on display.

Anderson was a freak, of course, that hunger undimmed to the point of having to be stood down by the end. But underpinning his remarkable career was the broader security of England's central contract system - deals worth about £500,000 a year, around a third less than their peak in 2016 when white-ball deals were carved out and a canvas of 188 Tests in 21 years on which to paint those 704 glorious brush strokes.

West Indies have central contracts too, but they are worth around £150,000 per year and only then for a select few. In a high-cost, low-income part of the world like the Caribbean, it is little wonder many of their brightest talents have been unable to resist the tractor beam of T20 cricket. Take Nicholas Pooran, arguably the most naturally gifted batter from the region at present and now in his peak years aged 29. The Trinidadian has played just five first-class games in his life and not one of them has been a Test.

England also have the volume of fixtures that allows them to invest in a player such as Zak Crawley - rewards finally being reaped and boldly state they are using the next 17 Tests to build towards the Ashes in 2025-26.