England has bolstered its pace attack by adding Mark Wood to the squad for the second Test against the West Indies at Trent Bridge, starting Thursday. Wood’s inclusion comes on the heels of veteran pacer James Anderson’s retirement from international cricket following England’s emphatic victory over the West Indies by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s.
Wood, who last appeared in a Test match against India in Dharamshala in March, was unavailable for the first Test due to his recent participation in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies. England leads the three-match series 1-0.
England’s triumph at Lord’s marked their fourth win in the current ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle, placing them with 33 points and a points percentage of 25%, level with South Africa and Bangladesh in the lower half of the standings.
Gus Atkinson, who debuted at Lord’s, made a significant impact with figures of 12-106, the fourth-best match figures by a debutant bowler in Test history. Matthew Potts and uncapped Dillon Pennington are other seam-bowling options in the squad.
England Squad for Second Test:
- Ben Stokes (captain)
- 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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