England have announced their starting XI for the third Test match against the West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Ben Stokes and his men are in scintillating form after building an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
With one more match left in the series, England will be hoping to complete the sweep. Although they have already secured the Richards-Botham Trophy, they will be looking to pick up some crucial points in the World Test Championship (WTC) in this match.
Similarly, West Indies will be playing for pride and will look to put in a better performance here, which will give them confidence for the upcoming home series against South Africa.
England’s starting XI is unchanged for the third Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston
England have decided not to change their third Test against the West Indies. Despite winning the series, Ben Stokes does not seem to alter his winning combination and has not made any changes to the line-up.
1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Papa
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes (center)
7. Jamie Smith (week)
8. Chris Woakes
9. Gus Atkinson
10. Marcos Wood
11. Shoaib Bashir
England’s starting XI looks strong, especially in the home conditions. The batsmen are in good form, with vice-captain Ollie Pope leading the run-scoring charts in the series with 229 runs from three innings at an average of 76.33. Joe Root is second on the list with 204 runs at an average of 68. Harry Brook and Ben Duckett complete the top four, while Kavem Hodge, the highest run-scorer for West Indies, is fifth on this list.
England hope Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes return to fitness
England will be hoping that Zak Crawley will bring back the runs. Crawley has scored just 79 runs in three innings so far. Even captain Ben Stokes has not been at his best with the bat. Stokes has scored just 81 runs in three innings so far at an average of 27. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has been impressive with both bat and gloves so far.
In the bowling department, fast bowler Gus Atkinson is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 16 wickets in two Tests. 12 of these 16 wickets came in the first Test. Atkinson had an excellent start to his Test career as he picked up a haul of 12 wickets in the match but had to dig deep in the second Test as the West Indies batsmen showed resilience in the first innings.
Bowler Chris Woakes has been impressive, having taken 7 wickets in two Tests at an average of 21.71 so far. But England’s biggest bright spot was the performance of spinner Shoaib Bashir, who took 5-41 in the second innings at Nottingham. This was the first five-wicket haul since Muttiah Muralitharan in 2006.
Fast bowler Mark Wood was expected to be rested for this Test but has been given a chance. Wood was unlucky not to get many wickets in the Nottingham Test but was impressive.
The third Test will be played from 26-30 July. In the WTC rankings, England are sixth with five wins and six losses, while West Indies are last with one win and four losses.
