England sweep series 3-0 after Wood finishes off West Indies resistance
England 376 (Smith 95, Root 87, Woakes 62, Stokes 54, A Joseph 4-122, Seales 3-79) and 87 for 0 (Stokes 57*, Duckett 25*) beat West Indies 282 (Brathwaite 61, Holder 59, Atkinson 4-67, Woakes 3-69) and 175 (Louis 57, Hodge 55, Wood 5-40) by ten wickets
Mark Wood’s breathtaking post-lunch spell netted him a five-wicket haul and put England on the brink of another comprehensive victory over West Indies, which they sealed inside three days at Edgbaston.
Whereas his relentless rockets at Trent Bridge had jaws on the floor but yielded just two wickets for the match, his mastery of a reverse-swinging ball in the hour after lunch accounted for all five remaining West Indies wickets for 19 runs in the space of 39 balls. Wood ended with 5 for 40 from 14 overs, his fifth five-wicket haul in Tests, to add to his 2 for 52 from West Indies’ first innings.
The burst obliterated the efforts of Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge, who both scored half-centuries, as West Indies were left with a paltry 81-run lead.
The run-chase was perfectly poised for England to Bazball their way to victory, especially with Ben Stokes opening in place Zak Crawley, who had left the ground for scans after injuring his finger while fielding. Stokes struck a staggering 57 off 28 balls as he and Ben Duckett, with 25 off 16, mowed down the target in 7.2 overs without loss for a 3-0 series sweep.
England reached fifty off just 26 balls, equalling their team record posted at Trent Bridge. On this occasion, Stokes scored 41 of those runs. Duckett, seemingly tired of playing the supporting role after he was key to the fastest-fifty record in Nottingham, struck four boundaries in one Jason Holder over.
Stokes, meanwhile, notched the fastest Test fifty for an England batter and joint third-fastest overall, off just 24 balls, and hit the winning runs, swinging a waist-high full-toss from Kraigg Brathwaite for six through backward square-leg, emphasising the one-sided nature of the series despite some encouraging passages of fight from West Indies.
It was Stokes who had initially got the ball reversing in the morning session and he deployed Wood and Gus Atkinson – who had already claimed two wickets for the day – to good effect in the afternoon.
