The addition of Mark Wood for the balance of the Test series against the West Indies has been announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). After James Anderson retired, Wood has been called up to fill the void left by his departure.
Long a member of the Test lineup, the 34-year-old was curiously discarded by the team management in favour of Gus Atkinson during the West Indies series. Wood was left out of the first Test team because he was returning from the T20 World Cup, as previously stated by ECB Managing Director Rob Key. He went on to say that it was tough for Wood to adjust to Test cricket after a season spent playing T20 cricket, but the team management chose to give him a break.
“You’re going to get into Test cricket very quickly after finishing T20 cricket… there’s a time when you can’t just throw someone into a Test match.” “We’ll try to make him available for selection for the second and third Tests, hopefully,” Key had stated when the team was revealed. “Restoration is probably not the appropriate term.
In the meantime, Atkinson, who replaced Wood, produced an incredible performance in his Test debut. The pacer secured a position in the summer playing XI by taking 12 wickets in the match. Unless Ben Stokes and company choose to play the highly skilled Dillon Pennington, Wood is anticipated to return to the starting lineup right away.
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Their batting seemed to be in order at the same time. Joe Root and Harry Brook both scored half-centuries in the opening Test at Lord’s, while Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope appeared to be in strong form. It’s really impressive that Jamie Smith, making his debut, was the team’s second-highest run scorer.
England squad for second Test against West Indies: Ben Stokes (capt), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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