England will be looking to complete a clean sweep in the three-match series when they take on the West Indies in the final Test at Edgbaston, which gets underway on Friday morning.
The hosts have dominated the series so far, winning the first Test by 114 runs and an innings to spare, before wrapping up the second by 241 runs on day four of the match at Trent Bridge.
Match preview
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It has now been two years since Jonny Bairstow‘s blistering century led England to an excellent run-chase victory against New Zealand and marked the birth of what has since been dubbed Bazball.
At the time, Ben Stokes and newly-appointed head coach Brendon McCullum were tasked with revitalising England Test cricket, having inherited a team that had won only one of its last 17 matches.
While many still question the effectiveness of the new-found approach, given the side have drawn with New Zealand and Australia and lost in India since then, major positive signs are emerging, with the victory at Trent Bridge marking England’s first full series win since December 2022.
That victory took Stokes to a win rate of 61% since assuming captaincy, which is the third-highest percentage in Test history among captains who have led their country in at least 25 games, only behind Australian legends Steve Waugh (72%) and Ricky Ponting (62%).
England also made history in the last match, scoring 400 runs for the first time ever in both innings of a Test match. Additionally, Joe Root became the highest run scorer in Test cricket among active players with his century in the second innings, and he is now just 60 runs away from completing 12,000 runs in red-ball cricket.
If Root manages to score those 60 runs in the third Test, which will be his 143rd game, he will be the seventh batsman in history to score 12,000 runs in the longest format and will become the fastest Englishman to reach this milestone, surpassing Alastair Cook, who achieved the feat in 161 matches.
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While the first Test marked the end of an era, with James Anderson playing his final match for his country, new bowling stars have already begun to emerge in Gus Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir, the latter of whom became the first spin bowler since 2006 to take five wickets in a Test match at Trent Bridge.
The England off-spinner tore through the Windies’ middle order, which had performed brilliantly in the first innings, leaving Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze with distinctly different emotions in the second innings.
The pair of diminutive Dominicans gave the West Indies momentum, and a classy 82* from Joshua Da Silva propelled the team to a first-innings lead and their first 450+ score in a decade, but they had no answer for the 20-year-old Bashir in the final innings of the match.
Indeed, the second Test was made a much tighter affair by the Maroons but England still emerged victorious by 241 runs after bowling West Indies out for 143 in the second innings.
West Indies’ second-innings collapse highlighted England’s skill with the ball on home turf, but there were still many positives for Jason Holder‘s men as they aim to get on the series scoreboard in Birmingham.
Team News
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While Root stole most of the headlines in the second Test, Harry Brook also turned in an excellent performance, scoring 109 off 132 balls in the second innings, marking his first Test century on home soil.
McCullum may also use this opportunity to experiment with his side’s post-Anderson bowling attack, which could see a change in their starting seamers, potentially opening the door for Matthew Potts or the uncapped Dillon Pennington to make the starting 11.
Given the improvement made in the second Test, the West Indies are likely to remain unchanged for this match, with Hodge and Athanaze looking to improve on their career-best figures from the last match.
The only squad change for this one will be the exclusion of fast bowler Jeremiah Louis due to an injury. The 28-year-old did not feature in the first two matches and will be replaced by Akeem Jordan for the final fixture of the series.
England squad: Ben Stokes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Gudakesh Motie, Akeem Jordan, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair
Series so far
Test 1 of 3 – England won by an innings and 114 runs
West Indies – 121 & 136
England – 371
Test 2 of 3: England won by 241 runs
England – 416 & 425
West Indies – 457 & 143
We say: England to win
Despite putting up a much better performance in the second Test, we feel the West Indies will struggle to avoid a series clean sweep.
