England have added Mark Wood to their squad for the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday, the 34-year-old Durham fast bowler filling the place vacated by the retired Jimmy Anderson. The call-up pits Wood into a three-way battle for a single vacant seamer spot, alongside his county teammate Matt Potts and Nottinghamshire’s uncapped 25-year-old, Dillon Pennington.
That is assuming Gus Atkinson keeps his place after taking 12 wickets on debut in the opening Test and that England continue to pick a spinner. Shoaib Bashir was in the side at Lord’s, though such was the success of the seam attack he did not bowl a ball, and in England’s only innings was yet to score having faced 17 balls when he was run out by Mikyle Louis.
The 34-year-old Wood joins up with the team in Nottingham on Tuesday having yet to play a first-class game for Durham since returning from England’s T20 World Cup campaign last month. As the quickest bowler in the country, he offers a unique dimension to the bowling group and could form a dangerous partnership with Atkinson, who hit 90mph in England’s innings victory.
The third Test at Edgbaston starts on 26 July.
England men’s Test squad: Ben Stokes (Durham, c), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Dillon Pennington (Nottinghamshire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
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