After England had completed a series whitewash in winning the third Test by 10 wickets, Ben Stokes said that after lunch, with West Indies 151 for five and leading by 57, he “sensed that this was time to blow them away”. He gave the ball to Mark Wood who did the rest with a lightning spell of five wickets in six overs for nine runs.
“I was in a bit of a bad fettle actually at lunch, and I was wondering if it was something I was doing wrong,” said Wood, who was at that stage wicketless.
“I had a great conversation with Jimmy [Anderson] and a couple of the other backroom staff. He just said, rather than thinking about the outcome, to start thinking about the skill element. The first wicket gave me a lot of confidence and I was able to push on from there.”
The ball had started to reverse swing after the West Indies opener Mikyle Louis hit Shoaib Bashir into the stands. “That six landed straight on the rough side, that’s why it started doing loads. That six couldn’t have landed any better for us,” Stokes said – and Wood proceeded to take full advantage.
“That spell was just absolutely awesome,” Stokes said. “I think that’s one of the best reverse-swing performances I’ve seen in a long time. It was just awesome to see and I think there was almost a bit of relief there, because he’s bowled so well this series, he’s just not got the numbers in the wickets column that he would have liked. He’s walked off with five wickets there but I still don’t think he’s got the rewards he’s deserved.”
The result was an eventual target of 81, and with Stokes promoted to open after Zak Crawley fractured a finger in the field the captain claimed the fastest 50 in England’s Test history as it was knocked off in just 24 balls.
“I was always going to go out there and try to be ultra-positive,” he said. “The new ball feels a bit better off the bat than a slightly older, softer one. Once one hit the middle I was, like, ‘I might as well have a crack.’ I didn’t know about the record, I was just trying to hit every ball for four or six.”
Wood was named player of the match, his efforts on the final day eclipsing Jamie Smith’s 95 on Saturday. Gus Atkinson was named player of the series, having, like Smith, made his Test debut in the opening game at Lord’s.
“Gus and Jamie have both been absolutely phenomenal,” Stokes said. “Jamie seems to have everything. He’s got the power game and he’s got the technique to get him through any tricky periods. He’s a proper player.”
