Captain Ben Stokes hailed a “very, very exciting future for England” as they wrapped up a three-nil series win over the West Indies.
England completed a third dominant victory in a row as they won by ten wickets in break-neck fashion at Edgbaston. The victory was sealed by Ben Stokes who thrashed a 24-ball half-century, the fastest in English Test history, as England chased down 82 to win in 7.2 overs.
However, the victory had been set-up by a “phenomenal” spell of reverse swing bowling from Mark Wood, who took his fifth five-wicket haul for England.
“I think that’s one of the best reverse swing performances I’ve seen in a long time,” Stokes said in praise of his fast bowler. “It was just awesome to see and I think there was almost a bit of relief there because he'd beaten the bat so many times in the two games that he’d played and definitely didn't get the rewards that he deserved.”
England have made no secret of their desire to plan ahead for the Ashes in 18 months time and a key part of that is building a bowling attack that is able to operate at high-pace and use reverse swing which are two vital components to success in Australia.
“I think it shows how important pace is,” Stokes said of whether England have built an attack that can succeed overseas. “You also need skill to go with that…[but] having different types of options in your armoury in a bowling attack is obviously key, especially when it's flat, when it's not really offering you much in the air or off the wicket.
“Having Woody and Gus [Atkinson] in this game in particular I think was very good and obviously having those two operate together is very, very exciting for the future of England.”
Atkinson, who made his debut this summer, was named as Player of the Series after taking 22 wickets in three matches. Along with Jamie Smith, who also impressed in his first appearances for England, it has been a highly successful transition period of bedding in the youngsters that are hoped to be taking England forward.
“They’ve both been absolutely phenomenal,” Stokes said. “I think they’ve both been absolutely phenomenal, and have performed above, I don’t know, what people were expecting them to do. Certainly not what we expected – that’s why we selected them and gave them the opportunity. Jamie obviously has put some unbelievable performances in with the bat but behind the stumps as well he’s been class.
“He seems to have everything as a player – he’s got the power game, he’s got the technique to get him through any tricky periods like we’ve seen on a couple of occasions. He’s a proper player.”
England have not left the series without concern, however, as there is a mild injury concern with Chris Woakes’ quad and Zak Crawley has suffered a broken finger after dropping a catch in the slips.
“Obviously devastated for him,” Stokes said of Crawley. “It’s too early to say [how long he might be out], he’s only just had his x-ray.
“[Woakes] just had a bit of a sore quad and I didn’t want to put him at risk for anything further on in the summer. Obviously if the game got to a point where it was like, right I need to give Woakesy the ball here, I would have done that, but there was obviously that thing about not putting Woakesy at risk any more than what he is. He would have been absolutely fine to bowl.”
With Crawley in hospital getting an x-ray, Stokes promoted himself to open. After hitting his first ball to the boundary, he proceeded to reach a half-century in 24 deliveries, the fastest by any English batter in Test cricket, beating Ian Botham’s record of 28 balls set in 1981.
“I genuinely didn’t know,” Stokes said of the record. “When I did get it, Ducky [Duckett] mentioned it. And Colly [Collingwood] told me up in the dressing-room that I had the fastest 50 for England. But it was just trying to hit every ball for four or six at a certain stage.
“I was always going to go out there and try to be ultra-positive. Yeah, the new ball feels a bit better off the bat than a slightly older, softer one. Once one hit the middle I was like ah, I might as well have a crack.”
