England captain claims his side's impressive win at Trent Bridge demonstrates its progress.
Ben Stokes, England's captain, praised Shoaib Bashir for" showing the world what he's about today", after his five-wicket pull rushed West Indies to a 241-run beat on the third day at Trent Bridge.
Bashir, 20, finished with figures of 5 for 41 for 11.1 overs as West Indies- chasing an improbable 385 to circle the collection- collapsed from a secure 61 for 0 soon after tea to get bowled out for 143.
Though he only made his debut in February on England's tour of India, this was Bashir's next five-wicket pull in five Tests, and his first on home dirt- surpassing the just retired James Anderson as the youngest England bowler to reach quite a feat.
" Wow… special stat", Bashir said on Sky Sports shortly after wrapping up the victory, adding that he was still trying to" comprehend what just happened". It was left to Stokes to truly sing the praises of a young offspinner who did n't bowl a single over in last week's first-Test win at Lord's, but stepped up to the challenge exactly when his captain needed him.
" Bash showed the world what he's about today, on a wicket that was n't necessarily offering too much for spin throughout the whole game", Stokes said at the post-match presentation. " He had the ability to modify his pace, change his line, and control how the game was going to react off the floor," he said.
It was a way from a one-man work on the last day, nevertheless, and Stokes was particularly pleased with the variety of donors to England's victory. Although Ollie Pope was named Player of the Match for his first-innings hundred, he signalled out the second-innings stand between Joe Root and Harry Brook as the key section of the battle, under gloomy skies on the third night, and also warned that" people will pay" after Mark Wood's wonderfully quick ball display was rewarded with just two innings across his 28 innings in the match.
" On another day, Woody could have got Man of the Match, the way that he bowled was just phenomenal", Stokes said. " He's not got the rewards this game, but someone will pay eventually this summer.
" In batting we talk a lot about partnerships, and it's the same thing with bowling," Stokes added". You look at the amount of wickets at the other end when Woody was bowling his spells, that's the effect that a bowler like Woody can have.
" He's got the heart of a lion, he'll run in ball after ball after ball for us. And his pace is just phenomenal but it's the skill that he's got as well, to be able to consistently hit a certain area, with batters always thinking' when is it coming at my head"?
Stokes also praised Chris Woakes, who overcame a poor performance at Lord's and another poor start at Trent Bridge to take the match for six wickets, including Mikyle Louis ' crucial first wicket in the second innings that caused the West Indies to collapse. Woakes had endured a disrupted season, impacted by the recent death of his father, but Stokes was delighted that the senior man in his attack had hit his groove.
" He really found some rhythm, I thought, in his second spell on day two, and he led the attack so well today", Stokes said. " Chris Woakes is Mr Dependable, he generally always delivers, but the pressure from external noise about him leading the attack has n't affected him, and I think the performance he put in this week showed that".
England announced a unchanged squad for the third Test at Edgbaston next week shortly after the break, with Dan Lawrence, the reserve batter, and Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts, who are both uncapped. Stokes was pleased with the team's overall direction of travel as they won their first series match since the team's trip to Pakistan in December 2022, despite not commenting on whether Wood or Wood in particular might be given a break after his exertions in this Test.
" I've got to give a lot of credit to the way in which the whole team has performed throughout the Test", he added. This week has been wonderful for this team's progress both as a group and as interns.
You want quite a few athletes to stand up at any given moment in team sports, he continued," I hope that partnership between Brook and Root last night does n't get lost." I definitely felt that was the toughest batting conditions that we had throughout the Test match, the ball was starting to swing and the way in which that they got through that but also were able to still put pressure on to the West Indies bowling attack was top-class."
Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes both received identical scores of 71 and 76, each with the same positive intent running through his game.
He changed the way he played to his strengths and had different plans, according to Stokes, and he continued to play with his strengths. He was always looking to put them under pressure, because when Ben Duckett is looking to put the bowlers under pressure, that's when he plays his best."
With seven wickets remaining, England rose to a strong start on the fourth morning, leading by 207 runs, but West Indies responded with a string of wickets, particularly from Jayden Seales, to keep their target at 400.
" We played really well this morning," Stokes said". Probably if we're being brutally honest, we could have got a few a few more runs in the first innings, and would have liked to have gotten a few more]today ]… but with the pressure of the fourth innings, 380 is a lot of runs.
" Joe was Joe… a fantastic knock, another hundred for Joe in a winning cause for England, then Brookie went out and just played the house down".
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