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The England side, under the captaincy of Ben Stokes, has named their squad for the second of the three-match Test series against West Indies, at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, which begins on Thursday. The firing pacer Mark Wood has been recalled in the red-ball attack in place of James Anderson, who retired after last week’s victory at Lord’s.

The Durham pacer wasn’t available for the first Test, having returned to the country only after the completion of England’s T20 World Cup campaign, in which he claimed three scalps in five games, but is yet to play a first-class game for his county side in this season.

England is coming into the contest, on the back of their innings and 114-run win, which saw the next generation of their pace bowler- especially Gus Atkinson taking charge with his ‘Player of the Match’ performances.

England starts a new Test era without either James Anderson or Stuart Broad

This Trent Bridge Test will be the first home game in the longest format for England, since 2012, where neither James Anderson nor Stuart Broad will be taking part in the XI. That game was also against the Caribbean side, at Edgbaston, where the Andrew Strauss-led side checked their bench strength, suing the likes of Graham Onions, Tim Bresnan, and Steven Finn.

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To highlight it more, that was the only home Test where both these veteran pacers hadn’t featured for England since 2007 in Chester-Le-Street, under the captaincy of Micheal Vaughan.

Broad hung up his boots during the last Test of the Ashes in 2023, whereas Anderson will remain with the England side for the rest of the summer to help the young bowlers with his knowledge.

With the inclusion of Mar Wood, who has 108 Test wickets in 63 innings, at an average of over 30, with three four-wicket and four five-wicket hauls, the two young bowlers Dillion Pennington and Matthew Potts will have to wait for the Tests, having been in the squad for the first couple of games of the series.

Potts has been impressive in his short spell of red-ball career, having collected 23 wickets in the first six Tests in 2022 and 2023, while Pennington is still aiming for the very first opportunity to be part of the England Test eleven.

The hosts were excellent in the first game of the summer, where Atkinson showed real pacer, besides being on the right line and length, making the batters confused on whether to play or to leave the balls. His match figure of 12.106 is the fourth-best by a debutant in the history of the format.

Trent Bridge has always been helpful for the batters, and the lone spinner in the England side, Shoaib Bashir, who didn’t get a single chance with the ball in his first home appearance in this country, is expected to play a vital role in this game.

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Under the coaching of Brendon McCullum, England has already started to nail an aggressive brand of cricket in this format. But in the last game, they showed the right balance between aggression and defense. The bowling of their captain was such a huge bonus for the side in providing them more strength, while his off-form with the bat in hand could be a little concerning.

England XI for the Trent Bridge Test vs West Indies:

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicket-keeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.