Cricket: West Indies name unchanged team for second England Test

The West Indies will stick with the same XI for the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, which starts on Thursday.

The decision to maintain the same line-up is surprising, as many anticipated wholesale changes to the squad after their heavy innings defeat with two days to spare at Lord’s.

Kraigg Brathwaite will resume captaincy duties, while fast bowler Shamar Joseph has shrugged off injury concerns to return for the second Test.

Brathwaite demands more from batters

The West Indian batsmen could only manage totals of 121 and 136 at Lord’s, which was 114 runs less than England had amassed in their sole innings.

Brathwaite has been clear that his team needs to bat much better to avoid successive defeats.

“It’s pretty simple what we’ve got to do,” the West Indies skipper said.

“We’ve got to bat a lot better.

“Obviously we’ve got to find a way, which we’ve had some discussions around different things we can do better as a team.

“There are still a bit of positives with the bat.

“With the ball, as I said before, England scored 50-60 runs too many but it was a positive to get 10 wickets.

“But with the bat, we’ve just got to put runs on the board. It’s simple.”

England favourites to wrap up series victory

England are clear favourites to wrap up the series at Trent Bridge, rendering the third Test a dead rubber.

The hosts are paying -769.23 to win, while a draw or an away win are both longshots at +1200 with top cricket bookmakers.

England do have cause for concern, however, as they are about to play at a ground where they have won only two of their last six Tests.

Their head-to-head record against the West Indies at Trent Bridge is not encouraging either, with the home team winning only one of the last nine meetings in Nottingham.

While the West Indies may take some inspiration from that stat, they are winless on English soil since 2020.

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