England Reveals Playing XI for Second Test vs West Indies, Introducing Anderson’s Replacement. England has revealed their lineup for the second Test match. Led by Ben Stokes, the team is coming off a big win over the West Indies, having won by an inning and 114 runs. They’ve made one change to the team: after saying farewell to James Anderson at Lord’s, they’ve replaced him with fast bowler Mark Wood.
Replacing Anderson is no easy doing, especially after the retirement last year of Stuart Broad. Currently, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood boast a combined 83 Tests, making them the team’s most experienced bowlers. Instead, Gus Atkinson, a previous member of the squad, has only made 1 appearance, while Shoaib Bashir has just been selected 4 times.
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Pennington and Potts other two bowlers in the squad- are similarly less experienced. Pennington will make his debut for the team, while Potts, who has made six appearances, last played for England in June of last year.
Their batting has been more consistent. Except for their captain, Ben Stokes, who has scored only 13 runs in his last five innings, everyone has been contributing. Five of their top seven batsmen scored fifties in the first Test, but none managed to convert them into big scores. The standout performance came from debutant Jamie Smith, who played a composed and strategic innings of 70. The wicketkeeper batted aggressively only when with the tailenders, otherwise maintaining a style quite unlike the typical ‘Bazball’ approach.
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England Playing XI For Second Test
Ben Duckett, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Shoaib Bashir
