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England head coach Brendon McCullum revealed that the 3-0 series victory over the West Indies shows how the team have progressed but admitted that they are ‘not the finished article’ yet.
Captain Ben Stokes led England to an emphatic victory at Edgbaston, opening the batting in the absence of Zak Crawley, and powering a rapid-fire half century to drive his team up to the target of 82 in just 30 minutes.
Mark Wood had earlier taken a five-wicket haul to set up England’s 10 wicket victory and a third in as many tests against the visitors. They won the first Test at Lord’s by an innings and 114 runs and the second at Trent Bridge by 241 runs.
McCullum also denied that the sereis was a one-sided affair and stressed that England have ‘still got a lot of improvement’ to make.
“I thought, overall, it was a progression of where we wanted to get to as a team,” he told BBC Test Match Special.
“We’re not the finished article - we know that. But I think this series has been a step forward for us. It has been a while for us to get a series win and we’ll never take that for granted.”
The head coach namechecked two of the debutants, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, who performed brilliantly on their call ups to the international stage during the series.
Wicketkeeper Smith finished with 14 catches and made 207 runs at an average of 51.75 having been selected over Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow.
“When you’re in that position at seven and wicketkeeper you’re like the drummer in the band,” McCullum said of Smith, “You need to be prepared to take risks and he’s happy to do that, and he backs himself that he’s got the power game when the field is out.
“No [criticism of] guys that have been before, they’ve done great jobs for us, but we identified that it was an area where we wanted to add a little bit more punch.”
Atkinson, meanwhile, finished as England’s top wicket-taker with 22 wickets at 16.22 and was named player of the series.
McCullum added: “He’s such a quiet man. He’s got inner confidence and a real confidence in his ability and skills.
“He’s moved the ball off the seam both ways, hits great lengths, bowled high pace and committed to the bouncer plan and done what the captain asked and sustained it.
“He’s been outstanding and he’s quite cheeky within the group too and the guys love him.”
