England captain Joe Root has confirmed that all rounder Chris Woakes will be replaced by pace bowler Toby-Ronald Jones for the third and final test against West Indies.
Chris Woakes has made a comeback to the team in the second test at Headingley, but the 28-year old has struggled, especially with his bowling as England were defeated by five wickets.
Ronald Jones is one of the young talents that impressed well after making his debut during the South Africa series. He managed to pick 14 wickets in three tests during that series and will be playing in front of his home crowd at Lord’s in the final test.
England will not only just try to win the test match as they eye it as an ideal preparation for the highly anticipated Ashes tour during Australian summer.
“This is the team I think can win this week,” said England captain Joe Root.
“Chris is a fantastic performer across all the formats, and I fully expect he will come back strong. There’s plenty of cricket to be played over the rest of the summer.”
The English top order has been a concern for the team as opener Mark Stoneman needs more games. Although Alastair Cook is in fantastic form, number three Tom Westley will need to get some runs under his belt.
The 28-year old has scored only one score above 10 in his last five Test innings. Root reckons it is time for the new man to prove a point in the final test.
“You speak as a batting group and as a team you have conversations in the dressing room all the time. You want to make sure you are helping out when you can,” said Root.
“Ultimately no one knows Tom’s game better than he does and he will be desperate to prove a point.”
England Predicted XI: Tom Westley, Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jonathan Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Toby-Roland Jones, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.