‘It’s certainly a changing of the guard’ – Zak Crawley provides team insight after James Anderson’s departure

Zak Crawley. (Photo Source: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

England won the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s by an innings and 114 runs. The Test was the last international game James Anderson was featured in and he bid adieu to the game at the very venue he debuted back in 2003. Gus Atkinson dazzled with the ball picking a seven wicket-haul in the first innings and a fifer in the second. England batter, Zak Crawley shed light on the team’s prospects and life without the England legend.

Crawley notched up a splendid half-century in the first innings against West Indies at Lord’s. He was one among the five English batters to score half-centuries in the first Test. He noted that the visitors are no less than a formidable side and highlighted that the dressing room is not taking them lightly. He showed contentment with his performance at Lord’s and vowed to replicate the same.

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“We don’t take anyone for granted. They’ve got some really good players, who we know are very capable of taking the game away from us. We have to be sharp and perform like we did at Lord’s. It was a really good performance and we want to back that up,” said Crawley as quoted by The Standard.

“It’s certainly a changing of the guard (On Anderson’s departure), It’s really good to see some young talent coming in. Gus [Atkinson], Dillon [Pennington], lots of other guys, Pottsy [Matthew Potts] — these guys are really talented bowlers and I find them hard to face. They’re all going to go well and get the chance like Gus did [at Lord’s],” he added.

Mark Wood replaces James Anderson in playing XI

England will take on West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottinghamshire from July 18. The English have called up Mark Wood as he replaces departed Anderson in the playing XI. Other than this tweak, they have maintained the same eleven for the second Test. As per their newfound tradition, they released their playing XI two days before the action day.

England Playing XI for 2nd Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, and Shoaib Bashir.

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