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Toss West Indies chose to bat vs England
Kraigg Brathwaite called correctly for the second game running and this time opted to have first use of the pitch, with the expectation that Edgbaston would be good for batting on a warm, sunny day in the Midlands.
Brathwaite said the “pitch looks a good one” and said he side would have to “believe and work hard” against an England attack that has dismissed them for under 150 in three innings out of four so far.
Shamar Joseph was passed fit to play after feeling unwell during the build-up, with the return of Gudakesh Motie for Kevin Sinclair – who suffered a fractured arm in the Nottingham Test – the only change to the side that competed on level terms with England for the best part of four days before falling to a heavy defeat to concede the series.
Ben Stokes admitted he, too, would have batted first. “You come to Edgbaston and the wicket always looks an absolute belter but not winning the toss and having to bowl first gives us an opportunity to go out and continue the good work we’ve had with the ball,” he said.
England had named an unchanged side a day out from the start, with a three-week break coming up before the Test team returns to duty against Sri Lanka.
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Shoaib Bashir
West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Mikyle Louis, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua da Silva (wk), 8 Gudakesh Motie, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Jayden Seales