England have announced their Playing XI for the second Test match. The Ben Stokes-led side, who have come off an emphatic victory (an inning and 114 runs) over the West Indies, have made just one change to their team. After bidding James Anderson goodbye at Lord’s, the Three Lions have brought express pacer Mark Wood as his replacement.
Replacing James Anderson
Filing Anderson’s shoes won’t be an easy job, and with a transition already in place, with Stuart Broad retiring last year. Right now, they have Chris Woakes and Mark Wood as their most experienced bowlers, who have played 83 Tests between them. However, Gus Atkinson has played just one match, and Shoaib Bashir isn’t far off with just 4 matches to his name.
The other two bowlers in their squad, Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts, aren’t that experienced either. Pennington is yet to make his debut while Potts has 6 Test caps to his name but hasn’t represented England since June last year.
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Batting better
Their batting has been better though. Barring their captain, Ben Stokes, who has scored just 13 runs in his last 5 innings everyone has been among runs. 5 of their top 7, scored fifties in the first Test but none of them kicked on to score a big one. The most impressive was debutant, Jamie Smith, who played a very calm and calculated inning of 70. The wicketkeeper only attacked when he was batting with the tail and was otherwise playing very un’Bazball’-like.
England’s 2nd Test Playing XI vs West Indies
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.
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