Key events
To those asking, here’s an overseas link to listen to TMS.
The teams
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
West Indies have won the toss and will bat first
The sun’s out in Birmingham and Kraigg Brathwaite’s going to have a bat under it. The other good news for the visitors: Shamar Joseph remains in the XI.
Scott Oliver, the finest storyteller on club cricket, has done something on Sobers. Enjoy.
Some chat about Mark Wood potentially clocking 100mph. Always been kinda funny how the fastest recorded delivery, Shoaib Akhtar’s 100.2mph effort against England in 2003, was dealt with pretty calmly by Nick Knight.
Here’s some pre-match reading. First, Ali on how England are refining their Test game.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the third and final match of this Test series between England and West Indies. Yep, the main stuff is done: Jimmy’s testimonial, the direction of the Richards-Botham trophy, the arrivals of two very promising cricketers from Surrey. But this is still a Test match, at Edgbaston, and there’s nothing more tantalising than the opening morning of a five-dayer.
England are unchanged but West Indies have been forced into at least one: a Mark Wood thunderbolts in Nottingham fractured Kevin Sinclair’s forearm, bringing Gudakesh Motie’s left-arm tweak back into the mix. Shamar Joseph could be out with the flu which would be disappointing. He’s thoroughly watchable with both bat and ball.
Here’s my wish for the next few days: a proper game. Lord’s was one-sided and Trent Bridge had its moments, but West Indies’ fourth-day collapse ruined the fun. Let’s get to five. Pretty please.
I’ll be with you for the next few hours so please send in your thoughts, queries, song requests, favourite pizza toppings, what you’re reading at the moment, hopes, dreams, fears, whatever you fancy.
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