England have added Mark Wood to their 14-member squad for the second Test to get underway on Thursday, July 18 at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Wood was roped in after James Anderson retired from international cricket following the Three Lions’ innings victory at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Wood has not played Test cricket since the Dharamsala Test against India back in March.
Wood was a crucial member of the England team in the T20 World Cup 2024, where he picked up 3 wickets from 5 games at an economy rate of 8.69. Earlier, Rob Key, the managing director of the men’s cricket team, put forth the rationale behind not picking Wood for the opening Test.
“Once you come out of T20 cricket, then you’re going into Test cricket very quickly… there’s a period there where you can’t just throw someone into a Test match,” Key said.
“Rest is probably not the right term, but we’ll look to make him available for selection for the second and third Tests, hopefully,” Key added.
Wood is expected to play the Nottingham Test since he is the most experienced amongst the other pace bowling options – Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington. In 34 Tests, Wood has taken 108 wickets with 4 five-wicket hauls to show for his efforts.
Gus Atkinson will retain his place in all probability after picking up 12 wickets to wreck the Caribbean batting lineup at Lord’s. Atkinson got a 7-wicket haul in the first innings, after which he returned with a 5-wicket haul. Chris Woakes is also likely to retain his place given his prowess with the bat lower down the order.
England squad for 2nd Test
Ben Stokes (C), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood