Bridgetown (Barbados): England have confirmed that pace bowler Saqib Mahmood will make his Test debut in place of the injured Mark Wood in the second match against the West Indies beginning at the Kensington Oval here later on Wednesday.
Mahmood is the only change in the touring party’s playing XI from the drawn first Test at North Sound, Antigua.
The 25-year-old right-arm pacer has 14 ODI and seven T20I wickets to his name in his nascent white-ball international career, but will be making his Test bow in Barbados on the back of a county record that has seen him pick up 70 red-ball wickets at an impressive career average of 27.92.
“He’s (Mahmood) very mature for a guy who hasn’t played a huge amount of international cricket, he has an understanding of how he wants to operate,” England captain Joe Root was quoted as saying by the ICC on Wednesday.
“He’s been very impressive; he’s got a slightly different trajectory and will give us a point of difference. He has done that when he’s played in other formats. Clearly he has good control, especially if the ball moves with reverse swing. It’s a great option to have up our sleeve,” added Root.
West Indies will be hoping to overshadow Mahmood’s debut with the performance of their own bowling attack. And the four-pronged pace unit of Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales is expected to play again after an unchanged 13-player squad was named.
“We played a first-class game in Barbados and the ball was doing a bit,” captain Kraigg Brathwaite said. “So the bowlers may get a bit more in Barbados early. “The last Test was flatter than we hoped for but the pacers will get a little more in Barbados.”
During the first Test, the hosts safely batted out the final day as the match England ended in a draw at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
A middle-order revival led by Jonny Bairstow’s superb 140 had seen England recover from 48/4 in the first innings to post 311, the team’s first score over 300 since the English summer. But West Indies responded with a total of 375 to emerge from the first innings with a lead, thanks in large part to Nkrumah Bonner’s century.
Further tons from Zak Crawley and Joe Root put England on the front foot after four days of the Test, and a flurry of runs on the final morning set up an intriguing last day. But West Indies dug in well, with Brathwaite and John Campbell taking the sting out of the England attack at the top of the order, and a lengthy unbeaten partnership between Bonner and Holder seeing West Indies safely survive.
Four centuries were scored in a match that was dominated by the bat, but the bowlers will be hoping for more assistance from the pitch at the Kensington Oval in the second Test.
Despite the draw, West Indies found themselves slipping on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table, as they were docked two WTC points due to a slow over-rate in Antigua. They have slipped below Bangladesh into eighth in the WTC standings.
England are the only side below West Indies as things stand, but there are plenty more matches to go before the end of the WTC cycle in 2023 and lots of opportunities for a turnaround in fortunes.
West Indies captain Brathwaite, said that the atmosphere generated by the series made it special. “This series itself is always different to every other series we have. It always has a lot of energy and at times that can inspire guys.”
Confirmed England XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Joe Root, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood.
–IANS
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