England gained the toss and selected to bowl first vs West Indies
James Anderson will bowl the primary ball in his final worldwide match, after Ben Stokes gained the toss and put West Indies into bat within the first Check of the English summer time at Lord’s. Stokes’ resolution prompted cheers from the Wednesday-morning crowd, who will get to see Anderson bowl in his 188th and remaining Check match.
Anderson made his Check debut at Lord’s in Could 2003 and can convey his England profession to an in depth on the similar venue in July 2024. He’s the third-highest Check wicket-taker within the format’s historical past and desires eight wickets in his remaining look to attract degree with the late Shane Warne in second.
“What we are able to count on from Jimmy is full coronary heart, need and fervour to go on the market and win video games for England,” Stokes mentioned. “His sole purpose this week is to go on the market and be the performer that he has [been] for such an extended time frame. We have not actually spoken about this week and what it holds up within the dressing room as a result of Jimmy is the utter skilled. I am positive that [for the] first ball that will get bowled in the present day, the gang might be proper up.”
Kraigg Brathwaite, West Indies’ captain, mentioned that he would have bowled first too however implored his younger batters to dream large. “It is vital to get in – it is clearly probably the most tough time once you first begin – however simply belief your eyes, belief your method and suppose large,” he mentioned. “Assume large, batsmen in the present day: you are taking part in at Lord’s.”
There have been no late adjustments or surprises in choice, after each groups opted to call their XIs early: England on Monday afternoon, and West Indies on Tuesday lunchtime.
England handed debuts to Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, the Surrey keeper-batter and quick bowler respectively, with offspinner Shoaib Bashir taking part in his first match at residence. Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Ollie Robinson have been dropped whereas Mark Wooden is rested after the T20 World Cup.
For West Indies, debutant Mikyle Louis will open the batting alongside Brathwaite, and can develop into the primary man from St Kitts to play Check cricket. This might be solely his eighth first-class match, together with his worldwide call-up coming aged 23 following spectacular kind for the Leeward Islands.
West Indies haven’t performed a Check since their well-known win over Australia on the Gabba in January, and this might be a primary Check match at Lord’s for 9 of their gamers. Brathwaite and the returning Jason Holder are the one exceptions, having featured in a nine-wicket defeat there in 2017.
These groups met in St Lucia three weeks in the past on the T20 World Cup, however solely three gamers might be concerned in each fixtures: Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie for West Indies, and Harry Brook for England. Brook, together with Chris Woakes, is taking part in his first Check for nearly a 12 months, with each gamers lacking their 4-1 defeat to India firstly of 2024.
West Indies gained the latest Check collection between the perimeters in early 2022, grinding out a 1-0 win in Joe Root’s remaining tour as England captain. Final time they met within the UK, England got here from behind to win 2-1 within the first Check collection performed following the Covid-prompted world sporting shutdown.
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Shoaib Bashir, 11 James Anderson
West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Mikyle Louis, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Gudakesh Motie, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Jayden Seales
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