Bazball shone brightly for England once again as Brendon McCullum’s boys whitewashed the West Indies, winning 3-0 in a three-match series. With this series victory, they have climbed to sixth place in the 2023-25 ICC World Test Championship rankings. While reaching the top two is still a long shot, England can be happy about their performance in this series.
Let us check out the player ratings of the English side:
Top Order
Zak Crawley (5/10): Zak Crawley will be disappointed with himself for not capitalising on the opportunity, especially with many new batters coming through the ranks and knocking on the doors of selectors. The opener could only score 97 runs in three matches, at an average of less than 25.
Surprisingly enough, he had a really bright start to the series by scoring 76 runs in the first Test at Lord’s. But the second Test was horrific as he was dismissed on a duck in the first innings and scored 3 runs in the second. Crawley did not redeem himself in the third Test either, getting out on 18.
Ben Duckett (7/10): Ben Duckett is the exact opposite case of Crawley, as in many regards, he has emerged as the ideal batter to play Bazball cricket. Not only did he score 178 runs in 5 innings at an average of nearly 45, but he also scored those runs at a strike rate of 92.70, which is the highest among any English batter.
Duckett was dismissed on 3 runs in the first Test but returned strongly in the second where he scored 71 runs in the first innings and then backed it up with a 76-run knock in the second innings. In the third Test, he scored 3 runs in the first innings and remained unbeaten on 25 in the second.
Ollie Pope (8/10): Ollie Pope was the epitome of consistency and composure for England, barring the last Test. He was the Three Lions’ second-highest run-scorer with 239 runs at an average of nearly 60, which includes a century and a half-century.
Pope started his campaign with a 57-run knock in Lord’s, while he was at his best in Nottingham, where he scored 121 runs in the first innings and 51 in the second. Unfortunately, the lad from Chelsea could not score more than 10 runs in the third Test.
Middle Order
Joe Root (9/10): Often times it has been argued that Joe Root should not be considered in the same bracket as the likes of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson anymore, but whenever such arguments gather fire, Root proves his class just as he did in this series.
The former captain was the team’s highest run-scorer, with 291 runs at an average of over 70. Root scored 68 runs in the first Test, while his only failure was in the first innings of the second Test, where he scored 122 runs. But he made a stunning comeback with 122 runs in the second innings at Nottingham, while in Birmingham, he scored 87 runs.
Harry Brook (8/10): England’s middle-order looks set for many years to come, as while Smith had an excellent debut Test series, another youngster Harry Brook continues to get better with every passing series. Against the West Indies, Brook scored 197 runs at an average of nearly 50.
He scored exactly 50 runs in the first Test, whereas in the second Test, he scored 36 runs & 109 runs in the first and second innings respectively. It was only in the third Test where he could not perform, getting out for 2 runs.
Ben Stokes (10/10): Ben Stokes has often proved why he is regarded as among the greatest match-winners of this era, but he also is a brilliant entertainer. In this series, he shone with both bat and ball, scoring 192 runs at an average of 48 and picking up 5 wickets at an average of under 35.
Ben Stokes played an excellent knock in the last innings of the third Test
The English captain scored just 4 runs in the first Test but made up for it by picking 3 wickets. Then he got just 1 wicket in the second Test but compensated for it by scoring a combined 77 runs across the two innings. But his best was seen at the third Test, where he scored 54 runs in the first innings and an inexplicable unbeaten 28-ball 57 in the second innings. Besides that, he also got a wicket.
Jamie Smith (8/10): Despite playing only 2 ODIs ahead of this series, in which he scored just 9 runs, Jamie Smith had a lot of hype around him. With his brilliant batting display, the young wicketkeeper-batter has proved why the hype was all worth it.
Smith was among the only three English batters who scored 200+ runs, getting to 207 runs at an average of over 50. The 24-year-old scored a half-century in his debut innings, scoring 70 runs at Lord’s. Then he scored a 36 & a 6 in the second Test but came back superbly with a 95 in the third Test.
Bowlers
Chris Woakes (9/10): Chris Woakes also had a good series, where he was the team’s second-highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets, and also a regular contributor with the bat, scoring 134 runs at an average of over 30.
The start of the series was not ideal for the 35-year-old as he scored 23 runs and got just 1 wicket in the first Test. He then made a strong comeback with 6 wickets and 49 runs in the second Test, while in the last game, which was also played on his home ground, he scored 62 runs and picked up 4 wickets.
Gus Atkinson (10/10): Not many players hold the distinction of being the highest wicket-taker on their debut Test series, but that is exactly what Gus Atkinson managed to achieve in this series. He picked up 22 wickets at an excellent average of 16.22. Besides that, he also scored 44 runs.
Gus Atkinson was the highest wicket-taker in his debut Test series
Atkinson was seen at his best at Lord’s, where he picked up 12 wickets. He took 4 wickets and scored 23 runs in the second Test, while in the third Test, Atkinson got 6 wickets and scored 21 runs.
Mark Wood (8/10): Replacing James Anderson after the first Test, Mark Wood did a fairly decent job in the last two Tests as the Caribbean batters struggled to find answers to his sheer pace. He picked up 9 wickets at an average of 20.
The performance was rather ordinary in Nottingham, where he picked up just 2 wickets and scored 13 runs. But he got into the groove in Birmingham and got 7 wickets.
Shoaib Bashir (7/10): Shoaib Bashir still has plenty of room for improvement, but given that he is still just 20 years of age, the off-spinner is on the right track. He picked up 9 wickets at an average of under 30.
Bashir did not get the chance to bowl in the first Test as the pacers cleaned up West Indies’ batting order. He got 7 wickets in the second Test, but could not carry the momentum into the third Test, where he got 2 wickets.
James Anderson (8/10): In his 188th Test match and last international match of his career, Anderson showed why he could have played in a few more series and reached the 1000-wicket milestone. He got figures of 1/26 and 3/32 in the first and second innings respectively concluding his career with 704 Test wickets and 991 international wickets.