England’s triumph in the last match in the series against the West Indies was ingenious as they won by 10 wickets on the third day of the Test Match in Edgbaston on Sunday under the leadership of their captain Ben Stokes.
Stokes opened England’s account by pulling and cutting his way to the fastest Test fifty by an England batsman, and was 55 not out, having faced only 28 balls. The England batting lineup effortlessly got the required 82 runs in 7. 2 overs after Mark Wood led an extraordinary bowling performance. Wood took five wickets for seven runs in four overs and had the West Indies all out for 175 in the second innings.
Zak Crawley was unable to bat because of the injury to his hand and Stokes, being higher up the order capitalized on it and played a good knock. Ben Duckett also contributed 25 runs from his 16-ball bat. Opener Cook ensured England posted a record 83-run stand at a paltry aggregate in the first 10 overs and then the team posted the fastest fifty in Test cricket in 4. 2 overs. Stokes’ innings of 24 balls was indeed monumental; it not only broke Ian Botham’s record of 28 ball fifty in 1981.
After that Stokes said, “Quite nice to go past Beefy with that one,” he would prefer a bottle of champagne from him than a well-done message on his comeback with the team after a disappointing start to the series.
Before this, Wood played an outstanding bowling session after the lunch interruption to snuff the life out of the West Indies lower order, even removing three of them in one over. Wood said that he was delighted to keep his speed and said ‘I have replayed the highlights of my spell twice and I will be doing it a few times more’.
Though Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge, both notched fifties, the West Indies failed to make useful partnerships. Next, Louis was out for 50 and was bowled down by Zak Crawley off Stokes. Hodge eventually scores his fifty but is then dismissed by Wood, caught.
Wood finally got to clean up the tail by claiming the wickets of Joshua da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Jayden Seales, and Shamar Joseph as Harry Brook took a catch at the second slip.
The English team will start their training for a three-test series against Sri Lanka scheduled to start from August 21 On the other hand West Indies will have test series against South Africa next week.