A sigh of relief went up from Caribbean cricket watchers when the promised return of the regional four-day tournament actually happened just ahead of the West Indies vs England three-Test series, which opens today in Antigua.

There were only two rounds of games for each of the six regional teams to begin with. Three more will be played in May, we are told. It’s a long drop from the 10 rounds of home-and-away four-day games we have become used to in recent years. But in these novel coronavirus pandemic times, I am grateful for small mercies.

Jamaican opener John Campbell and the 25-year-old Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler Anderson Phillip are without doubt grateful for the return of regional competition, having made the West Indies 13-man squad on the back of their most recent performances.

Campbell, 28, was the only opener to make a century in the regional games — an outstanding knock against Barbados in Bridgetown, watched by new chief selector Desmond Haynes. Cricket watchers will recall that Campbell had a decent start to his Test career against England in the Caribbean in early 2019, when the home side won the three-Test series 2-1. But the Jamaican left-hander fell away gradually, before being omitted after the drawn two-Test home series against Sri Lanka early last year.

Campbell’s recall means he was catapulted ahead of the unfortunate Trinidadian Jeremy Solozano who, without getting a chance to bat, was hit on the head and concussed out of the away series against Sri Lanka late last year, while fielding close to the bat.

Whether the attack-minded Campbell has overcome glaring technical flaws which have haunted him in his Test career so far, we are about to find out. If he has, Campbell is likely to enjoy a long partnership with Captain Kraigg Brathwaite, with whom he has opened for the West Indies since their days in age-group cricket.

I am very intrigued by the fast bowler Phillip who played a single white-ball game for the West Indies last year and now finds himself in the Test squad in the absence of the pacy, 33-year-old Shannon Gabriel, who we are told, is nursing a niggle.

I first saw Phillip in 2015 in Mandeville at the regional under-19 tournament held in Jamaica that year. He looked quick and accurate but to my untrained eye, his action seemed a little ragged. That 2015 tournament showed up a considerable number of good-looking seamers, including Alzarri Joseph, Chemar Holder, Odean Smith, Keemo Paul, Oshane Thomas and Obed McCoy.

I next saw Phillip in early 2019 at Sabina Park. He seemed smooth and very impressive, claiming a hat-trick against Jamaica in the process. He would end that season with 28 wickets in eight matches and has hardly looked back since.

Watching him on online streaming recently as he collected a match haul of seven wickets against Jamaica in Trinidad, Phillip showed good pace and control with an aggressive wicket-to-wicket line. I would have been very surprised had he been ignored by the selectors after ending the two games with 12 wickets.

All that said, I don’t expect Phillip to be part of the West Indies attack for the first Test. He is behind the skilful veteran, 33-year-old Kemar Roach, 20-year-old Trinidadian Jayden Seales — who took to Test cricket like a duck to water last year — and Joseph who, on the evidence of his performances in recent white-ball cricket as well as the recent regional four-day games, is in superb form with the ball.

Key all-rounder and former Captain Jason Holder will obviously be part of whatever seam combination is decided on by the selectors. Provided those in the slip and gully cordon take their catches, I expect the home pace attack to do really well.

On the strength of his bowling in a losing cause against Sri Lanka in that country, the WI selectors have opted for the 32-year-old Veerasammy Permaul, as the only specialist spinner, ahead of fellow left-armer Jomel Warrican and off spinner Roston Chase. To my mind, the big, towering off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, was never going to be in the picture given recent below-par performances and his chronic fitness challenges.

Just one specialist spinner in the West Indies squad suggests to me that ground staff will be preparing pace-friendly pitches for these three Test matches.

I suspect that the decision to ignore Chase — who it should be remembered tormented English batsmen with his off spin in 2019 — reflects a desire to have him return to basics and rehabilitate his batting which has fallen through the floor. The tall, right-handed Chase looks a shadow of the dominant batsman who averaged 100 against Pakistan in the Caribbean in early 2017.

Clearly, a similar message is being sent to Shai Hope, the 2017 twin-century hero of Headingley, Leeds. To me, Hope appears to have lost not just form, but confidence.

I expect Nkrumah Bonner and Shamarh Brooks, both 33 years old, to walk at three and four in the West Indies batting order behind Brathwaite and Campbell. I still can’t wrap my head around the decision of the previous selectors to ignore the claims of the very technical Brooks for the recent Test-match trip to Sri Lanka.

I expect Kyle Mayers and Jermaine Blackwood to be at five and six with Holder, Joshua Da Silva, and the specialist fast bowlers completing the batting order. Should the selectors feel they need Permaul on the park, deciding who stands down could prove painful.

Three years ago, I was quite certain the England team would not beat the West Indies despite the presence of their great fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad and, of course, their captain and champion batsman Joe Root. I was laughed at but proven right.

I am far more hesitant now, largely because there are so many unknowns. Much will depend on how England’s young batsmen Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope — talented but yet to show consistency — deal with the West Indies pace attack in Caribbean conditions. Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes is a specialist batsman in his own right while the 28-year-old opener, Alex Lees, who made a half-century in the warm-up against the West Indies President’s XI last week, has a solid reputation.

Root, the dominant Ben Stokes, and the combative Jonny Bairstow, will strive to be the core around which the young England batsmen rally.

I was not surprised by the decision to omit Anderson from the England side. He is now 39, pushing 40. He can’t continue forever.

Cricket was always a young man’s game — a fact which the Roger Harper-led selectors who chose the West Indies team to the Twenty20 World Cup last year, apparently forgot.

Anderson’s long-running new ball partner, Stuart Broad, 35, who was also omitted, could remain in the reckoning especially if the young guns now in the Caribbean fail to grab their chances.

With the impressive swing bowler Ollie Robinson absent from the first Test squad, apparently due to injury, I expect Mark Wood who is the visitors’ fastest bowler, the lively 24-year-old Saqib Mahmood or Craig Overton, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes to make up a potent England pace attack. The reliable left-arm spinner Jack Leach may well play given the depth of the England batting, though the tour selectors could decide they have enough cover from Lawrence and Root, who both bowl off spin.

How will this series go? Let’s see.