England will head into the second Test against West Indies in a buoyant mood next week after a dominant performance in the series opener at Lord’s.
The home side demolished the tourists by an innings and 114 runs inside three days and are strongly fancied to follow up at Trent Bridge.
Fans will be clamouring to find England vs West Indies tickets over the next few days as the summer cricket bandwagon rolls into Nottingham.
Read on as we look at some of the key talking points from the first Test before assessing whether England can hammer home their superiority over the West Indies.
Anderson waves goodbye to Test cricket
James Anderson finished his Test career in style at Lord’s, taking three second innings wickets in his 188th appearance to take his career tally to 704.
He is third on the all-time list behind Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warne (708), and he will feel frustrated that he has not had the chance to take second place.
England’s management told the 41-year-old they were planning to move on despite him feeling he could still compete effectively in the Test match arena.
Anderson says he was delighted to have the opportunity to help England make a winning start to the series and will miss playing alongside his teammates.
“I knew it was going to be my last time out there, so I just wanted to enjoy every minute, tried to soak up the atmosphere, and enjoying doing something I’ve loved doing for 20-odd years – running in, trying to take wickets and have fun with the skills I’ve got,” Anderson told Sky Sports.
“I’m just really proud. Playing for 21 years is an incredible effort, especially for a fast bowler, so I’m just happy I’ve made it this far and lucky enough to stay injury free pretty much throughout my career.
“I think winning series and Test matches has been the only thing I’ve been interested in since I came into this side.”
Anderson will now work as a mentor for the next generation of fast bowlers and could continue to play county cricket for Lancashire.
Atkinson headlines new wave of bowling talent
With Anderson heading off into the sunset, the pressure was on England’s other bowlers to prove they could step up to the plate.
Surrey fast bowler Gus Atkinson grabbed his opportunity with both hands, finishing with hugely impressive match figures of 12-106 in his debut.
His figures are the fourth-best by a player making his debut in men’s Test matches. Only Fred Martin (12-102 vs Australia in 1890) posted better figures for England.
His figures are also the best for England in a Test since Ian Botham’s 13 for 106 against India in Mumbai in 1980, highlighting the size of his achievement.
“It’s been an incredible week,” Atkinson told Sky Sports. “I just want to say thanks to Jimmy, playing here in his last Test has been incredible and to do so well has been incredible.
“Growing up, Jimmy was someone I’d come here to Lord’s and watch, and standing at mid-off I was looking at Jimmy running in thinking I’d seen that so many times on the TV, so it was amazing.
“What’s so good with this group is you’re allowed to come in and be the player you want to be, and it’s helped me massively. To come out and do so well this week is fantastic.”
Jamie Smith also stood out on his debut, hitting 70 from 119 balls as England racked up 370 runs to leave the West Indies with a mountain to climb.
Wood called up for the second Test
Durham’s Mark Wood has been added to the England squad for the second Test and will hope to be the nod, given he is the quickest bowler in the country.
He could cause havoc alongside Atkinson against an inexperienced West Indies team which looked woefully short of confidence in the first game.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite was bullish about his team’s chances in the run-up to the first Test, but they last little more than two days against a rampant England side.
West Indies failed to bat for 50 overs in both innings, while none of their batsman managed to hit a half century as England’s bowlers ran riot.
While his team eventually bowled England out on the first innings, they allowed them to post a score which gave them complete control of the game.
Although the home side are the favourites to win the next two Tests, it is worth noting that the West Indies have not lost a series in England for two decades.
Brathwaite, who scored six and four in the first Test, is confident his team will demonstrate their talent by bouncing back at Trent Bridge.
“For me to the boys the message is generally things will not always go as planned,” Brathwaite said. “We came to win the Test and it didn’t happen.
“But there are still two Tests remaining in this series and we still have six Tests remaining for the year. So, it’s all a build-up.
“We can’t believe that because of this England win, we are out of it or anything. We got to dig deep, we got to keep believing and keep stressing on it.
“It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to say, ‘well, I can’t get it done’, but we got to keep believing and keep supporting one another.”
England vs West Indies squads
- England squad: Ben Stokes, 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.
- West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair.
England vs West Indies prediction
England swatted the West Indies aside in the first Test and will fancy their chances of repeating the feat at Trent Bridge.
However, the visitors are unlikely to be as poor in Nottingham and should be much more competitive.
England should win, but it could take them a little longer to get the job done.
