West Indies have won just one Test against England in a decade, and few around the Caribbean expect that statistic to change soon. Home confidence regarding the opening exchange of the four-match series for the Wisden Trophy, which begins in Jamaica on Wednesday, is low.

Since that defeat at Edgbaston in 2000, England have won the rubbers 3-1, 3-0, 4-0 and 3-0, evidence of an apparently terminal decline of a once-great cricketing nation. Even John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has stated that the domestic structure is incapable of producing Test-quality players.