Mark Wood added to England squad for West Indies Tests

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced the addition of Mark Wood for the remainder of the Test series against West Indies. Following James Anderson’s retirement, there was a spot left to be filled and Wood has been called up for the same. He was part of the Test set-up for a long time but in the series against West Indies, the 34-year-old was interestingly dropped as the team management backed Gus Atkinson.

ECB Managing Director Rob Key previously explained that Wood was out of the squad for the first Test as he was coming after the T20 World Cup. He then mentioned that adjusting to Test cricket after a season full of T20 cricket was difficult and added that Wood was in the plans but the team management decided to give him a break.

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“Once you come out of T20 cricket, then you're going into Test cricket very quickly... there's a period there where you can't just throw someone into a Test match. Rest is probably not the right term but we'll look to make him available for selection for the second and third Tests, hopefully,” Key had said when the squad was announced.

Meanwhile, Wood’s replacement Atkinson had a stunning outing in his debut Test. The pacer picked up 12 wickets in the match and has guaranteed a spot in the playing XI for the summer. Wood is expected to come straight back into the squad unless Ben Stokes and company decide to play Dillon Pennington, who has an impressive CV.

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Their batting looks sorted at the same time. Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope looked in good touch while Joe Root and Harry Brook hit half-centuries as well in the first Test at Lord's. Debutant Jamie Smith was the second-leading run-scorer of the team, which is highly impressive.

England squad for second Test against West Indies: Ben Stokes (capt), 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