England, West Indies chase with Wisden Trophy on the line

Manchester: England will take on West Indies in the final Test of the series in a bid to determine the winner of the first series post the interruption in international cricket due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The series is currently level at 1-1 after some exciting cricket in England.

West Indies prevailed in the first Test, courtesy of some great performances from Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel, and Jermaine Blackwood.

In the second Test, however, Ben Stokes led a superb comeback against the visitors to give England a comfortable 113-run victory.

The all-rounder finished the second Test with three wickets and over 250 runs, rightfully being adjudged the man of the match.

The last time West Indies won a Test series in England was in 1988. To understand how far back that was, only two West Indies players from the current squad were alive back then: Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach.

West Indies would be banging their head about how they let a draw slip away from their hands in the rain-affected second Test match.

With an entire day being washed out on account of rain, England changed gears to a T20 mode to set up a competitive target of 312 runs for West Indies on the final day to force a result and keep their hopes of winning the series alive.

The hosts sent the visitors' top order packing early on to set the win in motion as the scorecard read 37/4.

Shamarh Brooks and Jermaine Blackwood scored half-centuries to put up a fight, but the hosts, inspired by Ben Stokes, stopped them in their tracks to level the series.

Stokes has picked up where he left off before the COVID-19 crisis halted cricket. He is the single-most difficult mountain to trek in West Indies’ quest to the peak of glory.

However, it is not impossible – after they also have some Sherpas of their own.

Jason Holder has been leading his side with great diligence while Shannon Gabriel showed that he is in good form, although he wasn’t able to trouble the Englishmen in the second Test.

Jermaine Blackwood is another gem that finally looks polished. He played the match-winning innings in the first Test and almost did the same in the second Test.

He scored 55 in the second innings of the second Test and could play a huge role in the final Test.

Teams

England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Dom Bess/Chris Woakes, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 James Anderson, 11 Stuart Broad

West Indies (possible): 1 John Campbell, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Stats and trivia

• Holder needs 46 more runs to reach 2000 in Tests. He would be the third West Indian player behind Sir Garfield Sobers and Carl Hooper to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 100 Test wickets.
• After breaking his 11-month wicketless streak in the second Test, Roach needs three more wickets to become the first West Indian fast bowler since Curtly Ambrose to reach 200 in Tests.

Match facts
July 24-28, 2020
Start time: 11am local (10:00 GMT)