Wood Speeds England to Whitewash

After England’s series-clinching win at Trent Bridge, the selectors went for an unchanged side at Edgbaston, though some felt it might have been an opportunity to give Dillon Pennington a run-out. West Indies, on the other hand, made one change to their side, leaving out Kevin Sinclair (with a fractured forearm) and bringing back Gudakesh Motie, after he recovered being unwell for the second Test. Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like a good batting day.

Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis have given their side plenty of decent starts in this series, and they did it again this time, despite some excellent early pressure from Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson, with Louis unable to get off the mark until his 22nd delivery. The fifty partnership came up in 94 balls, and then Brathwaite went to his own fifty off 70 balls, but Louis then fell on 26, edging Atkinson to Jamie Smith. Kirk McKenzie’s poor series continued when a fast, full delivery from Mark Wood knocked his middle stump out of the ground. Atkinson then induced a drag-on from Alick Athanaze, and at lunch it was 97 for three.

Brathwaite was next to go, for 61, strangled down the leg side off Wood. Kavem Hodge made an inexplicable error of judgement, leaving one from Chris Woakes that crashed into his off stump: 115 for five, and West Indies had lost five wickets for 39 in 7.2 overs. Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva were faced with the vital task of sparing Brathwaite’s blushes; both began cautiously, so it took 113 balls to bring up the fifty partnership. Holder targeted spinner Shoaib Bashir, and by tea the score had moved on to 194 for five.

After the break, Holder completed his first Test fifty in England off 92 balls and at the same time the hundred partnership came up in 181 deliveries. Da Silva seemed sure to follow him to a half-century but hung his bat out to dry and edged through to Smith off Woakes on 49. Alzarri Joseph played like a man who didn’t much care if he lost his wicket or hit a six, and had a heave at Woakes, only to lob it up to mid-off. A lovely delivery from Atkinson beat Holder all ends up, and he was bowled for 59. Motie couldn’t cope with an Atkinson bouncer, and his edge lobbed over Smith, only for Root to anticipate where it would go and take a superb diving catch. It was the 196th of his career, drawing him level with Ricky Ponting, leaving just three men ahead of him. Shamar Joseph played some nice shots, but holed out off Bashir to long-on and West Indies were all out for 282, with Atkinson finishing with figures of four for 67.

There were 35 minutes left when Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett came out to bat. Duckett was dropped on 3 when he hit one straight back to Alzarri Joseph, and Crawley seemed intent on making them rue that moment, playing some glorious shots, but then went after one from Jayden Seales and edged it to Holder, who took an excellent catch. Duckett then got an inside edge onto his stumps off Joseph, bringing in Ollie Pope to join nightwatchman Wood. But Wood failed to complete his job, falling to another excellent catch by Holder off Seales. England had gone from 29 without loss to 31 for three in two overs, and finished the day on 38 for three, with Pope and Root ready for the second day. Arguably, it had narrowly been West Indies’ day.

Early on Day Two the balance could have tipped even more firmly in favour of the tourists when an appeal for LBW against Root (then on 3) was turned down, but they did not review it, only to find out the ball would have hit leg stump. That error didn’t dishearten them as Pope got an inside edge off Shamar Joseph, which sent his middle stump flying. Third ball, Harry Brook fished at one and edged to the keeper to give Seales his 50th Test wicket. Remarkably, he became the quickest West Indies bowler to get to this landmark, taking just 1968 balls, comfortably beating Colin Croft’s record of 2169 balls. England were deep in trouble at 54 for five, so who better to come out to bat than Ben Stokes?

When he reached 14, Root went past Brian Lara to move into seventh place in the all-time list of leading runscorers, with 11,954. Kumar Sangakkara (12,400) and Alastair Cook (12,472) are next up on the list, if he wants to move into the top five. Root looked in fine form, while Stokes was more circumspect initially, but the fifty partnership duly arrived after 60 balls. Root then brought up his fifty after 68 deliveries, his 95th score of fifty or more. The hundred partnership took only 119 balls, and as lunch arrived with the score on 157 for five there was a sense that England were turning the tide back in their favour.

Straight after the resumption, Stokes reached fifty off 63 balls, and then Root went past 12,000 Test runs. But then Stokes mistimed a pull shot and was caught at square leg for 54, giving Alzarri Joseph his 100th Test wicket. Smith came in and was soon into his stride, hitting an enormous six, and setting the pair on the way to a fifty partnership off 65 balls. Just as Root seemed destined for another century, he was LBW for 87 to Motie (it was the 13th time he’d fallen in the eighties). Woakes immediately looked confident and England closed in on the West Indies total and, having been 54 for five, they had lost just two wickets in adding 200 runs. Smith brought up his fifty off 60 balls with a lovely boundary. At tea, England were 274 for seven, trailing by just 8 runs.

There was a brief delay over tea due to rain, but when play resumed Smith and Woakes soon completed their fifty partnership in a relatively sedate 75 balls, and then England moved into the lead. West Indies got their tactics to Smith wrong, bowling a lot of short stuff, which he kept launching to the boundary. The pair rattled along, their hundred partnership taking just 114 balls, and this felt like the period when England had moved into complete control of the match. Smith seemed destined for a maiden century but Shamar Joseph bowled a slower cutter and Smith was bowled for 95. Woakes completed his first fifty on his home ground off 65 balls, but then he clipped one to cover off Alzarri Joseph to fall for 62. Still the short stuff came, and now it was Atkinson who was dispatching it over the ropes before he tried it once too often and spliced it to mid-wicket to give Alzarri Joseph final figures of four for 122, and England were all out for 376, a healthy lead of 94.

There was about an hour of play left, and West Indies needed to make a strong start if they were to stay in the game. But in the first over Woakes bowled Brathwaite with a beauty without scoring. There was a collector’s piece as Stokes dropped a regulation catch at mid-off, but soon after Atkinson found McKenzie’s edge to put the West Indies man out of his misery in this series. Athanaze and Louis saw out the rest of the day to finish on 33 for two, though Louis was lucky to survive an LBW shout from a brilliant Yorker from Wood.

The start of Day Three required the West Indies to make a strong start, but England ensured it didn’t happen, as Bashir came up with a brilliant spell before he had Athanaze plumb LBW. Hodge nearly fell immediately when he edged Bashir, but Root couldn’t quite reach it. For a while there was no luck for England, as the West Indies saw off the deficit and the fifty partnership arrived in a brisk 55 balls, with Hodge scoring at a run a ball. Louis went to a maiden Test fifty with a six off 85 balls, but Stokes found his edge and Crawley took the catch to dismiss him for 57: 125 for four.

Thereafter West Indies fell away, but not before Hodge reached his fifty off 56 balls. By then Stokes should have had another, but Crawley missed a chance off Holder’s edge. Holder’s reprieve wasn’t for long, as Atkinson had him LBW and at lunch it was 151 for five. West Indies would last just 11 overs after the break, as Wood came up with an unplayable spell of fast bowling. Da Silva was first to go, LBW to a superb inswinging Yorker and was so plumb he pretty much walked before the umpire had raised his finger. Next Alzarri Joseph had his middle stump sent flying by a 93mph Yorker. Hodge, on 55, could only edge another brilliant ball to Smith. Seales was struck by a vicious bouncer, then next ball another Yorker sent his off stump spinning. Shamar Joseph hit his first ball for four, but his second was edged to Brook and Wood had picked up five for 9 after lunch. West Indies were all out for 175, with Wood’s figures five for 40.

With Crawley injured, Stokes stepped in as opener, needing 82 to win, and hit his third and fourth balls to the boundary. He seemed intent on setting a new world record for the fastest Test fifty, playing a shot a ball. The fifty partnership was achieved in 26 balls. In the end, Stokes took 24 balls to reach the landmark – England’s fastest-ever fifty. England won by ten wickets, finishing on 87 without loss after an exhilarating 7.2 overs. Wood was Player of the Match, with Atkinson the Player of the Series after taking 22 wickets.

To put England’s 3-0 whitewash in context, it was only the third time they’d managed it in a series of three or more Tests against the West Indies, after 1928 and 2004. This West Indies side were very inexperienced and may not have been the toughest challenge, but they still had their moments where they put England under pressure, but couldn’t see it through. For England, three new-generation picks – Smith, Atkinson and Bashir – all more than justified their selection, after we said farewell to James Anderson at the beginning of the series. With Anderson and Stuart Broad retired, and Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Jack Leach all not selected, this has been a considerable change in the England set-up, as Stokes and Brendon McCullum look to the future.

Just as significantly, the England captain has looked back to full fitness as a bowler, ensuring that he can help provide the balanced line-up that makes this team so effective. After 27 Tests in charge, Stokes has won 17 – at 62.96% his win-rate is better than any other England captain who has been in charge for ten or more games. Already equal with Nasser Hussain in terms of wins, when Sri Lanka arrive later in the summer he has the chance to go past Mike Brearley (18) and level with Peter May (20) to move himself up to the joint fifth most-winning captain in England’s history.